P5
by KingOfShadowedOnes
Summary: Every 5 years, a Princess is chosen in a random city around the world. A team of knights are chosen to defend their princess from the Hunters. While fighting in the world of dreams, they must learn to rely upon each other and their new Personas to complete their mission. I am your host, and as such it is my duty to say: Welcome, to the Velvet Room.
1. Welcome to the Velvet Room

**King: Hello Everyone, and Welcome to P5 the second happiest thing about murder on the face of the earth. This entire universe came to a friend and myself said friend happening to be my Beta say hello Beta.**

**KaC: 'Ello**

**King: Anyways we were freshman last year at an Engineering School and found that we both loved the game one of us (not me) was a rich kid who happened to have a huge T.V. and the game. At one point we Jokingly said that we should make it into a table top RP well it didn't stay a Joke for long. In about 72 hours we actually had a decent story setup and had the rules and dice rolls already to go. Unfortunately this was also about a month before finals, and we were only able to have two kinda-sortta productive sessions, well in all honesty it fell apart for the most part. Also since now I've decided to change to Nursing instead of Engineering I'm going to a different school. Sadly our RP died but not in vain, I've taken the plot of our RP and the Characters and as the Ex-GM have created this for all of you I hope that you will enjoy it my readers.**

**And Now Welcome to the Velvet room, Beta do you have anything more to Say?**

**KaC: The TV wasn't **_**that**_** big. **

**Disclaimer: The Persona Series is owned by Atlus, and neither of us make any claims.**

***_ August 12, 2012, The Velvet Room_***

The four children sitting around the table looked at each other wondering what was going on, they had just fallen asleep and here they were, none of them knew the others and just put each other as figments of this strange dream, this place was a soft blue color it seemed to be shifting trying to settle itself. A man with an incredibly long nose that he seemed to support on his thin steepled fingers sat at the head of the table, his crazy, bugged eyes examining each youth sitting around his table. An eerie yet hauntingly beautiful melody drifting through the air (Aria of the Soul) seeming to draw the four strangers into an almost trance like state broken only by the voice of the large-nosed man, his voice was haunting with a strange accent.

"Good evening and… … … well, well, well, this is an oddity of sorts I am not used to having multiple people in this domain at one time, this _is_ going to be interesting. Before I introduce myself I would think it wise that we introduce each of you to the others around my table," spreading his hands a deck of cards appeared out of thin air shuffling them he set the deck back down eight cards glowed in the deck, four of them sliding out, one card hovering before each of the youths sitting at the table. The top card flipped itself over landing directly in between the four, a man with a bag on a stick dancing with a dog at his heels. The number Zero glowed at the top of the card. "Hmmmm, yes most interesting indeed, this _is_ peculiar it seems that each of you is only partially complete, by which I mean you are two thirds empty, all of you play the part of the fool. This is most peculiar; the fool, like number zero, brings with it an opportunity to hold infinite power. You are all united by something, none of you know what but you must learn to trust and listen to each other if you mean to pass the new game, but more than that, each of you already have a dominant Arcana. Most interesting indeed let us see who each of you truly are, at least, to this point in your lives," with a flip of his long fingered right hand the cards flipped themselves over one at a time.

The young man to the right of the long nosed man had broad shoulders and powerful arms with worn hands; he had tanned skin and a well-sculpted face, though not quite handsome. His emerald eyes were almost too full of a cold, calculating, intelligence, and his mouth seemed frozen in a sneer, as if he thought himself to be the most powerful thing in the room. The card before him flipped over to show a man standing with a crown upon its head and a cape covering his armor, a scepter floated on the left side of the card, and what looked like an eye to the right. A glowing IV was at the bottom of the card.

"Ahh, the Emperor," Igor nodded solemnly towards the man to his right before continuing , "You seek to lead, but the question is why? Do you seek power for yourself, or do you wish to crush the enemies of those you hold dear? Is your control all powerful, or does it barely collar the sea of emotions that you want to forget about? Will you lead with honor as a wise king, or will you lead with an Iron fist like the dictators that you so hate? Remember that in the velvet room we appreciate and honor your decisions and so long as you accept responsibility for your actions. So oh Powerful Fool, where will you lead us?"

A young woman, the only one of the group sat across from the Emperor. She had long brown hair that flowed freely over her shoulders, slim, but not weak she was built like a gymnast. Her grey eyes danced with a sense of mischief. Her open face was truly striking, and the smile on her lips set a contrast to the cold looking man across from her. The card in front of her flipped over, revealing a wheel with a sword pointing to the top of the card with a demon hovering above the tip; at the bottom of the card a snake danced beneath the hilt of the blade. A blazing X sat pulsing at the bottom of the card.

"Hmmm, Fortune, I see," the man with the long nose looked at and gave a creepy yet comforting smile to the young woman. "Luck has given its hand to you, for both good and ill, and that luck will either save the world or doom all of you. Remember that fortune favors two things in this life contradictory though they are, Fortune loves her Fools and you more so then most, but she smiles her brightest on the prepared. Remember though fortune is a wheel, all get there turn on top and bottom this goes doublly so for you. So what will you bring us Fortune's Fool?"

Looking back to the right, the eyes of the long nosed man at the smallest person at the table, he had black hair that fell over weary blue eyes that held a bit of insanity but still seemed wise beyond their years and looked at all of existence as if it was just a joke waiting for the punch line. By far the smallest at the table, he was full of tight muscle that seemed to ripple across his skin. He looked at the long nosed man with a bemused smile that was returned to him, it was as if these two were in on a secret that was funny to only those in the know. This youth flipped his own card over widening the smile on the long nosed man's face. The card portrayed a Papal cross in the center with two keys reversed and inversed from each other in the top left and right corners. A glowing V sat at the bottom of the card.

"Ah the Hierophant," The long nosed man chuckled as he continued, "What _wonders_ must go on in that mind of yours, calculating all the odds, favoring no side over another. You are truly a clever fool, but what does this cleverness bring you? Will you learn the true meanings to what goes on around you or will you think that your intelligence gives you the answers. So Wise Fool what will you reveal to us?"

Turning to the last man at the table the man eyed him with more curiosity then the rest, tall with balanced shoulders and a kind face with short blond hair the youth nodded at the nosed man with respect, calm eyes that seemed to see to the heart of the matter.

"Can you tell when I'm lying boy?" again the boy nodded towards the long nosed man.

"Can you read my mind, child?" this time the boy shook his head no. The final card flipped over to reveal a balanced scale with a blade as the fulcrum the plainest card so far. The VIII across the bottom of the card was a solid blue color.

"Justice is the last, but certainly not the least, of tonight's revelations. Will you rely on cold compassionless justice or will you be a warm and merciful flame of Balance purging only those who truly deserve to be burned away. Will you be blind to anything but the facts, or will seek to discover the truth hidden in the depths of emotion? So oh Blind Fool, can you dispel the shadows and show us the true answer to the game's riddle?"

Looking at each other, the four teenagers tried to understand what was going on and what the words from this strange man meant. The space around them finally stopped shifting. They appeared to be sitting at the table of a restaurant. Noticing the change the long nosed man stood and bowed to the four youths.

"And now my Fools let me begin again with the introduction: Good Evening and Welcome to the land of in between, in between dream and reality, lies and truth. Welcome to the Velvet Room, my name is Igor, and I shall be your host in this space. A bond was forged tonight between the four of you, like it or not. For better or for worse, through sickness and distress, in the times of darkest shadows, you will have each other, and of course myself, but I am in actuality little more than the keeper of the Room. You will all be forced to make choices and I will them all whether you make them as a group or as individuals." The children turned to face the clicking of heels as a woman who appeared in her twenties walked into the room. She was dressed as a waiter, with her long auburn hair in a ponytail. She bowed slightly to the group before stepping behind Igor.

"My Assistant Natalia," Igor gestured to the woman who again bowed slightly, "will be there to assist you as well. In this room you are the masters we are but your host and servants. It is now time for all of you now to depart; after all you must rest for the first day of school in the morning."

Across the small town of High Peak four teenagers, soon to be seniors shot up simultaneously in their beds gasping for air, they all tried to forget the strange dream but to no avail. Sighing they all fell one by one back into a troubled slumber, after all tomorrow is the first day of school.

*** _The next day Monday August 13, 2012 Hamilton Public High school, 8 am***_

A tall, well muscled, handsome man sat behind the demonstration desk in the front of the room and went over the class list and dossiers of his students, paying special attention to the four marked with a P5 in the corner. Hearing the bell chime he put the dossiers into his top draw and locked it keeping out the class list. Standing he turned, popped the cap off of a dry erase marker and wrote his name with an elegant hand, Dr. Jeremiah Nought. Turning again he flipped a switch on the bottom of the desk completing the circuit causing a ring to start hovering off the top of the desk. As the students filled the room he noticed that the four he was looking for were there, scattered throughout the room. Once everyone was in and seated he waited for the bell to ring once more before he spoke.

"Good morning everyone and welcome to the Physics room," Nought noticed the four look up sharply at his words, keeping from laughing he continued his introduction to the class, "My name for those of you who haven't been here before is Dr. Jeremiah Nought, Dr. Nought, Nought, Dr. No, call me any of these and I will respond to you, and since this is first period for all of you this is also your homeroom. For the next 9 months we will be a family, and hopefully a happy one. I have only a few rules, but the main one is that you be responsible for your actions." Again the four seemed to freeze, "but let's move on. Introductions. Since we are all going to get to know everyone in this class by the end of the year, you might as well learn each other's names. So I have a game, you will not be able to choose your seats in the class, sorry thems the rules of the room so I have in my hand the seating chart for the year, Table 1 front and center of the room we have, William Prior, Arya Wingfield, Jak Chase, and Tiberius Romano. He placed a piece of paper on the table with a name in each place Tiberius was on the right with Jak to his left William to his left and Arya on the far left. Once the teens were seated they looked at each other and ignored the rest of the tables. Nought continued to call out the seats, keeping his eye on the first table throughout the process. Once the last table was called out Nought went back behind his table and sat on his stool.

"Now then class for the next thirty minutes you will introduce yourselves, then all at your table will have to work together to try and figure out the reason I put the four of you together as a group. Luckily we had twenty-four of you so it worked out nice and easy. Again you have thirty minutes until class is over. Once you have it figured out please write it on a piece of paper and turn it in to me. If you need me I'll be up here playing with magnets."

The four youths at table one were the last to actually start talking to each other. Smiling Arya started to speak.

"Well, umm, I guess I'll start us of then," she had a light British accent and a smooth and comforting voice, "As you heard my name is Arya, and as you can tell from my voice I'm from England, York to be precise. I moved to America over the summer and am still getting used to it. I live with my mother and father as well as my little brother Ryan. I'm a gymnast and love theater sooo, umm that's it I think." Smiling she looked at the others her smile faltered a bit when she looked straight across from her, not because of the boy at her table but behind him another boy looked at her and smiled his dark eyes striking her with an unexplainable fear. The boy mouthed something towards her and she shuddered a little. Tiberius tilted his head to the side a look of concern momentarily blotting out the cold face that he usually wore. Arya noticed and shook her head and nodded to behind him. He appeared to think that enough and slipped back into his cold face.

In reality he observed the boy behind him from the mirrored wall, refusing to say anything was hard for him. He told himself not to get involved, that it wasn't his problem. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't his to deal with. He was having issues with that, he had to keep strong he couldn't help the look of concern hopefully she wouldn't think anything of it.

"Well, I guess I'm next then," the boy to Arya's right had a smooth even baritone that seemed to make everyone around him smile a little and relax. "My name's William, but please call me Bill, and whatever you do don't call me Billy or Willy. I'm from High Peak actually, I live with my parents, Moms a teacher at the elementary school and Dads a mining engineer in Silvercreek. I have two older brothers one's away at school the other is a priest in a nearby town. I'm a midfielder in lacrosse and captain of the chess team. If any of you need help getting around the area let me know. I was born and raised here and know this town like the back of my hand." Bill felt a cold chill run down the back of his neck looking around he barely missed a cold look from the same guy that creped Arya out.

Making an offering gesture towards Tiberius, Jak sighed when he saw that his motion was declined, shrugging he began his introduction. "Well I'm Jak that's spelled J-A-K Chase…"

"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" Bill chimed in nudging Jak.

"Oi, Oi, Oi, yeah, I'm from Australia ya bastard," Bill raised an eyebrow to the comment "oi, it's a complement where I'm from so cool it, I moved to the States about three years ago and have been to about six schools since I got here. My mum's a Specialist and moves from hospital to hospital, but she signed a ten year contract with High Peak so I'm finally going to be at one school for a full year. I've been to twelve countries and speak 6 languages. It's just me and my mom, never had a dad. I do martial arts and work with computers in my spare time. I look forward to actually meeting and getting to know people. So I think that just leaves the Emperor to go doesn't it." As Jak finished he leaned back in his chair a bemused smile on his face as the rest of the group started to stare first at Jak and then at each other. None wanted to speak, a chuckle filled the air around them as they all turned to the last man in their group. It was actually a warm, infectious, laugh. When they looked at him Arya was the first to realize that when he didn't wear his cold mask, he was actually quite attractive his green eyes bright and lively instead of the cold and domineering. As quickly as it started, it stopped with a cough and the mask returned. The other three wondered why he hid behind that cold face.

"My name is Tiberius Romano," the voice was charming but hollow and held little accent, although it betrayed a very Midwestern speech pattern. "I'm new in town. My parents died in a car accident over the summer. I'm originally from St. Louis, MO. I'm up here living with my Uncle Tony Romano and my twin younger sisters Amy and Emily. I play baseball and am looking forward to trying my hand with Student Government up here. I'm not very easy to get along with so I'll apologize ahead of time, and that will probably be the only apology you'll ever hear from me. Also our Hierophant over here should probably keep his mouth shut until we can talk privately." Jak shrugged with an easy motion that betrayed years of performing it.

"15 minutes left in class" Nought smiled out while humming a little melody that made the four stop. "Hmmm-Hmmm-Hm Hmmm-Hmmm-Hm Hmmm-Hmm-Hmm-Hmmmmmmm, H-H-H-H-Hmmm… "(Aria of the Soul)

"He knows something…" Bill whispered to the table before continuing on with the class assignment, "Well, besides the dream, what do we have in common? Why would No put us together in a group?"

"We're all bloody Fools, Bill-a-boy, you, me, stone faced and that spunk of a Sheila. What more do you want."

"Spunk of a Sheila, I take it that means me…" Arya looked confused for a minute until Tiberius explained.

"Basically he's calling you hot."

"Oi, you Speak the Lucky Lands Language not bad for a Seppo."

"Again, my name is Tiberius so please call me as such. There's more to all of us then what we're letting on at the moment so let's go back on track shall we? We all come from different backgrounds, different home lives, my money, or lack thereof, is on different incomes, and different interests and hobbies. How about academics I've always been in the top of the class, you guys?" The group looked at Tiberius with varying looks of wonder, the more that he talked the less cold his voice became by the end the smooth bass of his voice was actually quite warm and expressive. It wouldn't take a genius to figure that the cold mask was just an act, and one that he had trouble maintaining over periods of time. This was his third slip in forty minutes.

"Bloody Hell mate, that is actually decent convo that we're having right here. Any way thou, I ain't one to brag upon myself mind you but I've been top marks a time or two. "

"Umm, Well back in England I was always in the top ten percent," Arya looked at Tiberius, it was funny to her the two faces that this guy had. He tried to keep everyone at arm's length from him, but he couldn't keep it up. He had to have people close to him. He picked up her discomfort and displayed honest concern. That wasn't the read she got from him last night. 'He said his parents died in a car accident, could that be why he wants to keep everyone away? To make sure he couldn't be hurt by loss again?' It was only the first day and he was already starting to cave. She gave it a week at most before he was buddy, buddy with the group.

"I've been Honor roll since Junior High, also I've won the Renaissance Man Award the past three years. Basically means that I'm top Jock in the Brains around the school."

"Right boys," Arya leaned back in her chair trying to use Tiberius to block the creep behind him, "I think that we have our connection, Jak be a sweet lad and write Intelligence down for us if you'd be so kind."

"Right'o."

***_ Monday August 13, 2012 Hamilton Public High school, 12 pm_***

After class the school day seemed to take forever. Every class that the four had, they were together, and they were always put in the same group. During lunch, after four of their classes, they sat together when one of Bill's teammates from the lacrosse team came over.

"Hey, Bill," the boy was one of the few African American kids in the school he had an easy smile and nodded to the rest of the people at their table, "what's up with the new Clix you got here, trying to replace me? Hey, remember that sports start up again in a week. I still say it's nuts how they have it where you have to do both a sports, an a culture club here. That you have to stick with the same sport all year is a little strange too. I mean it works I guess but still…"

"I know Ben, I know. Anyways Benny-boy, meet Tiberius, Jak, and Arya. They're all new to the school and so far today they've been in all of my classes. Kinda weird but, whatever. They're good people. Everyone this is Benjamin Dryer, call him Benny he's my right mid and currently holder of the Iron Man Award, Benny here has at last count dropped not one, not, two but twelve guys on the field without taking a single injury himself."

***_ Monday August 13, 2012 Hamilton Public High school, 4 pm_***

Lunch continued normally as did the other three classes of the day after the last class they reported back to their homeroom. On the way back to the room they got stuck in the halls behind a pair of preppy girls talking.

"…Nuh Uh, be quiet you know that your going on about an urban legend right, I mean come on the Princess Hunt? That's just something you read online." The first girl had long black hair, she was speaking to an even preppier blond.

"No Seriously, I mean it, like every 5 years it happens at somewhere around the globe. There's this group that like tries to hunt down the princess in her dreams. I'm serious, when they enter the dream the victim seems to like go into a coma until they die in a week or like wake up. I mean come on is that not like so cool or what? Especially when the last hunt was in '07 is that not so totally awesome?"

"Chika you're strange,"

"Shut up you know you, like, love me,"

Finally the four were able to get back to home room. Just before the bell rang, Dr Nought listed off some random things while walking around the room he slipped a piece of paper onto table one that read "Stay after class we need to talk. All five of us." The final bell rang and everyone packed up and left except for table one as the last student left the room Nought locked the door and pulled the shades down on the room.

"Ok, so how much do you guys, know as a group? Not what you guess, what you know," Nought slouched into the office chair by his computer desk in the back of the room and kicked himself over, "Feel free to make yourselves comfortable, I have a feeling we'll be talking for a bit. Text your guardian, parents who ever to say you'll be home late, I have to know how much Igor told you." As soon as Igor's name left the man's mouth the four visibly seemed to let out a breath.

"So it was real, it wasn't just in our heads." Tiberius sighed and started to laugh a little.

"Of course it was all in your heads, that doesn't make it any less real," Nought shook his head, "You guys didn't forgot Dumbledore's last conversation with The Boy Who Lived, did you?"

"Good use of quote, Dr. No."

"Thank you Jak."

"Alright Doc, let's say for all intents and purposes that we know nothing, our question for you is what do you know?" Arya picked her words carefully from her spot sitting on the table her feat crossed at the ankle resting on her chair, she was almost resting her back on Tiberius who was smack dab in the middle of the table back leaning on the demonstration table. Jak was standing leaning against the table his hip touching it, while Bill was slightly off to the side sitting in a turned around chair his arms crossed over the back rest.

"Well, I know a lot of things, for example: I know that you are all going to get to know each other very, very well by the end of the school year. I know that one of us will most likely die within the next few weeks. I know that magnets are cool. I know that you all had a strange dream last night and that Igor for the first time in a long time was honestly surprised. I know that if we're not careful a lot of innocent girls will die." Nought pulled out an electronic cigarette and put it to his lips, "I also know that smoking is bad for you and none of you should do it."

Bill looked at Nought with calm and weighing eyes. His over all posture seemed to speak his question of Noughts honesty with out words.

"So Mr. Prior I see you have a gift for telling fact from fiction, do you trust completely in that gift?"

Bill shook his head no slowly but kept the same look at Nought trying to get a solid read on him. Raising a single eyebrow Bill seemed to say that he wanted answes anyway.

"And so you wikl get them Mr. Prior and so you will get them, I know about last night's dream from the mouth of Natalia, she and I have an… agreement of sorts. I know Igor from five years ago in New York, and my cousin Yu from Japan also had a run in with him. As for the about to die I don't know in full honesty if someone is but a… well let's call him a contact of mine told me that we're going to lose a team mate soon. Any other questions before we take a field trip?"

Tiberius opened a mouth closed it then thought the better of it, "so what are we going to be doing?"

"Good question Tiberius, your job as a group is to stop the other side from finding and killing the Princess,"

"Look Uncle Tony's a cop, I'm sure he could help us I mean come on what could we do,"

"You have two options all four of you do, you could shut up learn the game and play to win, or you could go home fall asleep and honestly die with the rest of us after three weeks. Ask Mr. Prior I'm not lying those are your only choices."

"Bill?"

Nodding Bill watched Nought turn around and start walking away.

Leaving the room Nought looked over his shoulders removing his glasses and lab coat for the first time making his face seem sharper, more lethal, and his body leaner, and much stronger. "You guys have twenty minutes to meet me outside by the front of the school."

As Nought left the room was speechless for a minute. Jak whistled lightly instantly relieving most of the tension in the room.

"We've gotta go and Help guys, I don't know what we're going to have to do, but I have this bad feeling in the pit of my gut that if we don't go down there and follow Nought we are all going to die." Arya looked down at the ground as she spoke her fear almost became palpable the tremor of her voice, the slight shakingAryal was serious and scared.

"I don't like it, we don't know enough," Bill was trying to maintain a cool head and focus on the fact, but everyone saw his agitation of someone knowing how his gift worked. "I say we wait."

Jak not moving gave one of his shrugs as he spoke, "I don't really care one way or another but let it be known that no matter what we do we do as a group I'm neutral in this mater mate," Jak reached over and slapped Tiberius on the shoulder, "Up to you, mate what we gonna do, Emperor?"

Sighing Tiberius took stock in his head, he closed his eyes and leaned back for a second, around him time seemed to slow to a stop as he entered a deep meditative state, the words of the dream and everything going around throughout the day instantly snapped into focuse his mind went down several paths at the same time:

The Dream last night was real; it happened, the four of them were bonded in some way that they didn't know at the time. Going back through his mind Tiberius went back over the Arcana around him, they were all Fools, all of them had near limitless potential. Easy enough, he wouldn't be supprised if in the end all Arcanas were Fools.

Jak was the Hierophant, he was the wise man of the group, the thinker, also he was the one who wouldn't take sides, or at least not a side that all of them could see, like he sided with the group staying together no matter what when the question was leave or stay. Jak was an interesting person to say the least. He was serious when he deferred the decision to Tiberius, in Jak's mind it all made sense, that Jak was the Wise, Arya the Fate, Bill the Sight, and Tiberius the Leader. But it couldn't really be that simple could it?

Bill was Justice. Justice attempted to be blind to all but the facts as Bill was trying to be right now. Logically Bill was right, this situation made no sense. It was crazy how four seniors in High School with the help of their Physics and Home Room teacher were supposed to save the world. There was more to it than that, Igor mentioned a choice for Bill either to be blind or to weigh everything, was this what he was talking about? If so should they go?

Arya was Fortune or better the Wheel of Fortune. Igor mentioned top and bottom. Remembering the situation with dude behind him, Tiberius finally realized what probably happened and made a mental note to talk to Arya afterwards. He knew that if she was right about this, odds were that Luck would be with them, and if she was wrong her Luck would help guide them…

Lastly, Tiberius focused on himself. He was the Emperor, but did that really mean that he a leader? What kind of man was he? Did he want to be involved deeply with people again? Did he really have a choice? Would he be strong enough to lead wisely? Could he be the man that he needed to be to help his sisters? What would his Father do in this situation? In the end it all boiled down to one question in his mind. 'Do _I_ have the brass balls to lead them into the path of something I know nothing about?' The simple answer is no. The full answer is that he could and should. Was he brave enough to face it alone? No. Did that matter to him? Also No. So, will he do it anyway? Yes.

"Load it up and move it out kids we're going on a road trip." The cold voice was gone, and odds were that for now at least Tiberius could be himself. Hopping off the table he offered a hand to Arya to help her down looking everyone in the eye he made another decision this one taking merely a second as opposed to ten minutes. "Oh, and before I forget Call me Ti."

Arya was shocked as they were running through the school they were at the top of the fifth floor in the farthest point in the school with only five minutes to make it to the front. She had thought that Tiberius, no, Ti, was going to say that they stay out of it. He seemed to go to sleep for ten minutes ignoring everything that was going on around them. When he awoke, she saw not warmth but fire in those emerald eyes she was completely stunned. He wasn't handsome, he was gorgeous. His face was so expressive now so full of will and life, not stone. She caught herself before she could continue this line of thought. 'No,' she thought 'I mustn't let myself fall for him. Alas, Fortune had other ideas. When she looked into his eyes as he offered her his hand, she knew that it was too late.

Jak was happy the Emperor was in charge. They were going into battle with the wise and warm king not the Iron Dictator. What more could he want?

Bill was a bit less than proud of himself. He knew that Ti would make the right decision. When they started to run towards the entrance, and Ti took the lead, he was happy that Ti made the decision that he had. Jak was right: Ti was the Emperor, Jak was the Hierophant, Arya was the Wheel of Fortune, and Bill was Justice. 'Justice shouldn't lead' Bill thought to himself 'it's just that simple.'

Nought was starting to worry. They had less than a minute to get to the front of the school. He hoped that they'd come, all of them. If a single one wasn't there, everyone would die. Three out of four would be useless. He made a check in his mind trying to figure who was what:

Bill was the easiest he was Justice through and through.

Arya was either Empress or Fortune; personally he was leaning towards Fortune.

Jak, quirky, quirky Jak. He was an odd one Magcian at first glance but no there was something there deeper that betrayed it Jak was a Hierophant.

Tiberius was... interesting... if he didn't know better than it he would almost have said Full Fool, but no there was something there, he could be Death, but Death rarely took a side in a thing like this… no it was a Personal Arcana, a really Personal one. His Arcana wasn't something far off like a metaphysical or Astral body no it was very earthy if it wasn't for the cold face he would have said Emperor in a heartbeat. Hermit was his guess for now.

Turning Nought saw them running Bill in the lead followed by Jak and Arya, behind Arya came Tiberius whose face in an instant changed Noughts mind. Nope Emperor definitely an Emperor, Tiberius hid it with that face but now there was no denying it Emperor which odds are would make Arya Fortune.

"Hey Nought," Tiberius stood there looking like an Emperor a sneer in his voice gave it just the right touch of pride, "let's blow this popsicle stand."

**King: Hope you all enjoyed this start; don't worry Chapter two will be out in two weeks. Beta I leave the last remarks to you. If you need me I shall be in my lair Muwahawhahahwhahaha.**

**KaC: Uh, I suggest you all get out of here. He's scary when he's in the lair.**

**On Another Note, there's a few questions I should preempt.**

**The Wild Card exists, but it is different than in the games.**

**There will be Social Links.**

**This does take place in the same universe in the games, unless we mess up our facts, in which case it takes place in almost the exact same universe as the games.**


	2. Emporium for the Ancient Arts

**Before I actually begin please alow me to apologize for the wait for the chapter, my laptop has been broken for a very lomg time and I just got it back after 2.5 weeks at the shop and rewrote what I had and finished this chapter in under 48 hours. Anywho on with the show**

**King: Welcome back everyone hope you have enjoyed the story so far, I have returned from the lair and have brought with the help of my trusty Assistant, Editor, Grammar Nazi, Beta Reader, and Co-conspirator, King and Commoner. Say 'ello Beta.**

**Kac: Nazis have nothing on me King.**

**King: Well at our last installment our group of hero's met a strange man with an impossibly large nose, had their fortunes told by magic cards, went to their first day of school, met an awesome physics teacher, learned that they're dream was actually real, and one of them had a ten minute epiphany over who he was and what mattered… Miss anything Beta?**

**KaC: …You say something, King?**

**King: This will be a very Noughtish chapter, oh don't worry just balancing out the fact that we know nothing about the man where we know a bit of everyone else, will mention some of the P4 charecters, actually, it will mention all the ones that matter. Wish I owned anything but this laptop and most of the Characters but I don't so anyways Readers Reads and Reviews please it would be nice for feedback. **

**All hail Atlus, oh and before I forget donations to my PSPVita and P4G account are open please place all Social security numbers and bank information in a pm for me thank you.**

_*** Monday August 13, 2012 Jegger Str., 5:30***_

Tiberius looked out the window of the Mini-van that the five of them were in. The four teens were honestly surprised to see the silver van that Nought brought them in, but more surprising was what had happened in the van. Sighing again and looking around and shock his head.

"You guys aren't gonna drop this one are you?"

Looking out the window at their silence he contemplated what was going to happen when they got where ever the Hell it was they we're goi—*Smack*

_*** 90 minutes earlier***_

"They'll be here in time, they have to be…" Nought brought out his pocket watch a zero with an x on either side was engraved on the front. He paused for a second, an observer would have thought that he was listening for something, nodding he put the watch back in his pocket. "I know Franklin, I know, they'll be here, all of them will be here."

As the group came running out the door he smiled as he figured the Arcanas of the Group, The Hierophant, Justice, The Wheel of Fortune, and The Emperor. An interesting mix that would cover well, along with the Fool Arcana that he saw in all of them he wondered if any of them would be a true wild card. Yu came to his mind and he sighed about his younger cousin, he was about to graduate this year and become a cop in Tokyo, maybe Nought would drop by for a visit over the summer.

Coming back to reality Nought walked over to his van clicking the fob as he walked over to it. Getting in he was interested in how they arranged themselves. Bill got into shotgun as Jak got in the back leaving the middle two seats for Arya and Tiberius. He smiled in the mirror remembering the last pair of Emperor and Fortune that he met Naoto-Chan and Kanji-kun. Smiling he remembered that he was shocked when he heard that the cute girl that was so open used to be so reserved and dressed like a boy. The boy that she was almost always in physical contact with was, he was told, like he always was loud, over protective and dependable. The two were still together last he heard, who knows maybe the Emperor always courted Fortune, which was often how rulers acted anyways, always dancing and trying to protect their Fortune and Luck from outside threats. Looking around, snapping out of his memories he saw that his four students were asleep, smiling he would have bet that he knew exactly where the four of them were right now. Sitting farther back into his chair he decided that now might not be a bad time to go into the past and look at some fond memories.

* * *

**King: [GO ON TO YOUTUBE AND LOOP ARIA OF THE SOUL, BETA POST ZE LINK]**

**[ watch?v=NxcjF_TU_no]**

Looking at the calming blue walls, and feeling the incredibly comfortable chairs, the four knew where they were before their long nosed host began to speak.

"Welcome again, to The Velvet Room my merry group of fools. I realize that I have actually been a very neglectful host to all of you. As an apology for my transgressions, I will give you a hint to help you on your way. But before I forget, do be so kind as to give the young Doctor my regards and do tell him that he should be very careful. Pardon me, I digress. The four of you have begun to figure out your roles in your group, and as such I must tell you that your interactions with the world around you will result in the…" Igor paused for a second a rumble came from behind his back. Igor looked over his shoulder to a shadowed door that nobody remembered being there before. A hard look passed over the Hosts face, scaring the Fools. Standing he turned and began to walk towards the door. Igor called over his shoulder to his Fools. His voice crawled like the fog off of dry ice. "Do not be Alarmed my Fools there is a simple matter I must attend to. Natalia my dear, please be so kind as to instruct them about the existence of Social Links. I have an… … old acquaintance to deal with."

As his Assistant began to move Igor entered the door which faded into the background. Natalia had a smooth mezzo-soprano voice which was pleasing to the ears. She moved into Igor's chair and sat crossing her hands in her lap before she started speaking.

"I apologize for my master's leaving, but I promise you that for him to leave a truly important crisis must have arisen," Natalia bowed her head to the four students before continuing. "As Igor began to state before leaving, your interactions with those around you not only change the person you interact with, but they also change you. By assisting in the growth of another, you allow yourself to grow as well. This is the nature of a social link. I believe that Igor wished to explain this to you because one of you will soon start the first social link." Natalia placed what looked like a wine list before the group. All of a sudden around twenty-one different symbols blazed to life around the table. Natalia smiled before continuing, "These are the symbols of the twenty-one arcana, each of which represents a social link with a different individual."

Tiberius watched as his teammates faded from the room one by one, and turned back to the waitress.

"Natalia, what's going on?" She smiled fondly at him and bowed. Without a word she turned and left the room, her footsteps fading into silence behind him.

"_What does it mean to be the leader, Emperor?" _The smooth feminine voice seemed to sneak like oilled honey into Tiberius' ears. Looking around almost franticly for a moment, he forced himself to calm down when the door that Igor went through faded back into existence. "_What does it mean to have Power? What would __**YOU **__give for power? Would you open the Doors of Reality, if you could save your Parents?_"

The last question made Tiberius' head snap up blazing fire in his eyes until then he was nodding along almost willing to listen. Peering into the inky darkness of the door he saw a pair of crimson eyes boring into him. Yes he craved power, he yearned for it actually, but he wanted it for the right reasons, to keep his friends and family safe, to make it so his people can live an easier life and he has to make more of the hard decisions so that they can be happy. Mention of his parents brought him back into his rational mind, yes they were dead, but how would they view him if he brought them back. This voice was a temptation that would best be squashed now, reaching inside himself he grabbed at something he never noticed before a power that slept within him. Looking the creature dead in the eyes he couldn't notice the glow as he started to pull the power into play; in his eye's a golden light seemed to come from his Pupil a word came unbidden to his lips.

"Per-so-…"

A rush of wind and a high pitched wail brought Tiberius to his knees. Looking at the door he saw fear in the eyes of the creature. A low sounding waltz with a rushed tempo seemed to fill the air as the fear in those red eyes grew until they seemed to disappear from existence. Igor glided out of the room his usual smirk on his face, nothing seemed to be wrong not a hair was out of place on his body. Taking a single look at Tiberius Igor grinned and sat back in his chair. Tiberius felt himself being pulled away from the room he was being woken they must be getting close to where ever it was they were going. As he faded he heard a chuckle coming from Igor.

"Chi-Chi-Chi, the most interesting and telling things about us happen when we believe that not a soul is watching. Don't worry my Regal Fool soon you will be able to fight but let your power dream a little more, after all it is in our dreams where we can find the answers to overcome our waking fears."

* * *

Nought's smile faded as the kids woke up from their trip to Igor. They all looked a little concerned, more than that though Tiberius wasn't waking up. Something was wrong. Pulling over to the side of the road he climbed out of the driver seat and went over to Tiberius' door pulling it open he saw that Tiberius was twitching; something was going on in the Velvet Room. Arya looked on in fear and Jak and Bill looked concerned at their new friend and leader. Nought sighed and placed a hand on his unconscious students head and focused on what was going on when Tiberius' lips started to move. Nought's eyes grew when he realized what Tiberius was going to say. Focusing up Nought was almost ready to throw up a barrier of some sort when all of a sudden the kid stopped on the last syllable never saying the "-na." Sighing Nought slumped a little and walked over to the driver's seat. Nought was happy that they still had time before he had to explain Personas to the kids, that was going to be all sorts of interesting. Tiberius' face when he woke was hard set and cold. The other students seemed to sigh at his face and shifted in their chairs sighing. Arya looking almost hurt.

The rest of the ride was silent as everyone reflected on what had transpired in the Velvet Room. In the silence Noughts memory again wandered into the past couple of years, travling to Japan with his aunt and uncle Narukami after finishing his doctorate. 'I may have been 23 but a free trip is a free trip, and Yu was pretty cool for an 18 year old anyway.' Smiling Nought remembered the look on Yu's face when he introduced himself to Rise-chan. 'She was a cute girl; she goes well with my cousin'. Taking a weeklong trip to Inaba was actually an interesting experience. Slipping out of the memory he made sure that they were going the right way and that they'd be at the shop in about ten fifteen minutes putting them right at 5:45 pm right when Nought wanted.

As time went on everyone seemed to calm down and Tiberius looked around for the first timed and sighed, "I'm not going to say it twice in the same day guys..."

Nought looked up into the rearview mirror with a raised eyebrow at the unexpected comment from the new group's quasi-leader.

"Tiberius what happened in there?" Nought made sure that his voice was calm and had a very slight authoritative tone not enough to demand authority but enough to call for some respect.

"Why don't you ask Natalia, she'd be better at telling you what that thing was then I would." Everyone besides Nought turned and starred at Tiberius with looks of fear from Arya, concern from Bill, and curiosity from Jak.

"Oi, what'd ya mean 'thing' there weren't a 'thing' in that place when the rest of us phased outta there?!" Jak was almost leaning in between Arya and Tiberius and thought better of it and leaned back a bit.

'Nothi…"

"Liar," Bills hard baritone cut straight to Tiberius. His head snapping up Tiberius saw that the large lacrosse player was staring at him with hard blue eyes that were just yelling try again with a lie and see if I don't beat the crap out of you. Weighing his odds Tiberius chewed on his bottom lip and sighed.

"You guys aren't gonna drop this one are you?"

After that the silence grew until it became so deafening that the resounding sound of SMACK made Nought look back from the road to the rearview mirror to see Arya with her arms crossed over her chest with an irritated scowl on her face. Tiberius was almost bent over rubbing the back of her neck. Chuckling slightly Nought was reminded of Yosuke-kun and Chie-chan. From what Nought saw back in Japan the two weren't going out yet, but the last time he got a card from Yu-kun there was ¥20,000 in it, the amount of the bet that was made that Yosuke and Chie would be seriously going out in less than five years. Smiling again Nought took a turn off and parked in front of the building.

Pulling the mini-van into the parking lot Nought pulled out a giant folded pile of twenty dollar bills which all of the teens eyes immediately latched onto. '_Ohhhhh, Follow the Money'. _Sighing and shaking his head Nought stepped out of the car and started heading towards the door. The group of four teens followed close behind. Handing each kid a twenty he shooed them inside to spend the money telling them to explain to the man behind the counter that they were shopping under the "Orders of an old Fool," and that he'd understand and point them to the proper merchandise.

After he watched them enter the place of business Nought walked over to the side of the building and pulled out an odd item, a key that was pulsing with a slight blue glow. A butterfly seemed to lazily fly above his head before flapping away. A smile pulled at his heart as he approached the wall and laughed to himself.

"Well, never thought that I'd ever actually use this thing again."

Humming a sad melody he pulled open a blue door that wasn't there until a second ago. _Good_, he thought,_ the kids would need a portal in this world._ As he walked through he saw the Velvet Room, but for him it wasn't a restaurant like Jak explained to him, it was a lounge with a giant piano sitting on a stage a microphone standing next to it, a drum set and a cello were next to each other a little farther back. Igor was standing behind the bar polishing a martini glass like he had been the first time that Nought had been there.

"Good evening, and welcome again my dear boy to The Velvet Room, how can I serve you this evening?"

* * *

The building that the kids entered was amazing it was filled with different kinds of artifacts and armor from all over the world.

Tiberius seemed bored as he browsed the aisles until his eyes hit the back wall and saw a collection of things that made his mouth water swords, and not ornamental ones these looked like true blades. He even saw a blade that almost made him feint on the spot it was a true and honest Kutto, made internationally famous by the anime Rurouni Kenshin. These blades were actually used back in the times before the warring states period in Japan. While it couldn't be an authentic from that time period the blade was beautiful, old and… **really** expensive. Sighing he decided to look for the counter where he could go and find the owner and pass on Nought's, not so, cryptic message.

Arya was fuming that bloody tosser had her right and truly miffed, and that peeved her more than anything else, she didn't even know him for over 24 hours for crying out loud, she couldn't love a guy like that… could she? Sighing she saw something near and dear to her heart almost gliding to it she looked at one of the displays that was perfectly done up. It was beautiful almost 6 feet tall unstrung and appeared to be carved out of a single piece of heartwood and was lovingly cared for, smooth as silk from age and not a crack or knot to be seen. It was a true English longbow, and it was priced like one… sighing again she put it back and went to find the boys and thought about forgiving Tiberius… no he should stew for a bit longer, maybe she could convince Jak that Tiberius needed his help. With a rather sadistic grin she went to find the Aussie to set on the American with.

Jak was in love they were beautiful, perfect looking, he could tell even when they were under the glass that the action would be smooth and perfect for him, he could even tell that the grips would be perfect. They were either perfect remakes of the original series or they were originals. Sighing Jak finally noticed the price tag and pawed at the glass longingly they looked perfect. The twin guns were long barreled revolvers, not stupidly anime long but longer than average, he thought that they looked to be of a larger caliber either .40 or .45 caliber maybe .380 the earthy steel of the guns looked natural so did the wood of the grips. Hearing Arya's voice he went to find her, not one to piss of Fortune he thought that he should see what she wanted.

Bill was lost in memories he loved the Emporium it was just like he remembered from when he was younger the old Iron maiden that he and Charles slammed their older brother George into was still there, he smiled when he saw the do not enter sign on the old torture device. Walking around he found the old display that always called to him even as a child, it was an aisle dedicated to gloves and gauntlets and one pair particularly still siren sung to him. Beautiful full arm gauntlets that started at the elbow with bracers that had a blade like edge along the outside the gauntlets themselves were so beautifully designed to allow almost full hand movement but were solid as a chunk of steel when he formed a fist. He remembered asking Mr. Hays who made those when he was about seven years old, the only response was a reverently whispered da Vinci. Bill walked to the back of the store and watched the young man behind the counter polish a slender blade. Bill was about to speak up when the man turned his head just enough to reveal a single gray eye.

"If it isn't the Youngest Prior, such a pleasure to see you again Lil Willie, but we are closed. I'm still here for a friend though, what are you doing here?" A small series of thuds came as Tiberius came around the corner with Jak trying to get a choke hold on him while hanging off his back. Bill looked on in horror as Arya walked in with a cat-who-caught-the-mouse smile on her face. Bill saw the young gentleman slide the blade back into his cane and walk towards the boys. Seeing the gentleman approach the two of them Jak dropped off of Tiberius' back and moved away. Coughing Tiberius looked up and saw the man walking towards him spinning a silver toped cane in one hand.

* * *

"Igor, is there actually any alcohol back there?"

"Why yes I believe that I have some Gin and Vermouth."

"I'll have a Martini then, classic recipe, that and some information."

A smile came across Igor's lips. "Of course, after all in the Velvet room we live to serve. You remember Natalia don't you." Igor gestured to the stage where Natalia stood waiting in front of the microphone; her gown started a light blue and as it fell around her the color grew darker until it was a midnight color as it gracefully trailed to the ground, Nought's face softened instantly upon seeing her. "She would love to have an accompanist for her next song she hasn't had a good partner in such a long time, I'll serve your Martini to you once your done."

"Thanks Igor," stepping up to the stage Nought found himself in a black suit with a blue tie and white gloves, kissing the girl on the cheek he sat on the bench and started slowly playing a sad aria. His Princess was singing and as always it was a beautiful song, they could almost hear Tom and Sam playing along in the background if they listened carefully, Tom playing a slow beat on the drum as Sam played the cello for all it was worth. Nought didn't even notice when the Martini was delivered on the piano he was lost in the song. As it ended Nought picked up his glass and guided the two of them to the lounge where they sat at a table. Taking a sip he sat his glass on the table before stroking the ex-Princess' hand for a moment.

"Natalia, what happened earlier with Tiberius, the Emperor, he wouldn't tell me. Please I need to know."

"I'm so sorry Jeremiah, I shouldn't have left him I thought that Igor was coming out, I couldn't help it, he came face to face with…"

* * *

"What are you doing in my shop young sir?" The voice was formal and cold enough to cause Tiberius to wince. Looking around Tiberius saw that he wasn't going to get any outside help. Bill had a look of I don't know you, who are you, stop looking at me. Arya was still pissed at him for some reason was it that all women were irrational or just the British ones. Jak was, well Jak was currently hiding behind Arya, whimp of an Australian. Sighing internally Tiberius looked the man straight into the gentleman's grey eyes.

"I apologies sir I was trying to locate the owner of this place when I ran into my friend who was trying to help me find something that suited my personality, let's say sir that we had a… conflicting view on what suits my personality." Tiberius saw the grey eyes lighten and a small sliver of a smirk grew on his face enough that it was showing mirth but not enough to be improper or insulting.

"It is past closing time sirs and madam, so I must ask, what are four teenaged youths doing in the Emporium of the Ancient Arts at 6:30 pm on a Monday night the day that schools in this area started back up?" Walking back to the counter the young gentle man ran a hand through his coal black hair smoothing it back into place. The smirk stayed on his face when he continued speaking. "Then again there really five teenaged youths in the Emporium of the Ancient Arts, aren't there."

Tiberius returned the smirk with one of his own. Seeing the smirk Arya smiled and Tiberius caught her smile out of the corner of his eye which made his smirk a little deeper.

"Order's of an Old Fool," the young shop owner steepled his fingers and leaned forward placing his smooth pointed chin on the fingers.

"Oh really do tell me more of what an Old Fool would ask of me and my Grandfathers shop and please do tell all. Speaking of Grandfather he would have had me trapped in the Iron Maiden for forgetting my manners. My name is Alfred Vincent Hays the Third new owner and proprietor of The Emporium, and from what Grandfather told me I am to help arm the Princess' Guard for the hunt, I take it that that would be the four of you?" the smirk was coupled with a raised eyebrow this time. Tiberius walked over to the counter and took a seat on one of the stools where Arya sat on his immediate right with Bill in his left and Jak on the other side of Bill.

"Well Al," Tiberius saw mirth rise in the Shop owner's eyes. "As corny as it sounds to say, this all started with a dream…"

* * *

Outside the door Jeremiah finished his first actual cigarette of the day, it was going to be his only if he had anything to say about it, the only reason he wasn't using his electronic was that he ran out of cartages for it, he could hardly believe that he went through that many until he remembered what Natalia told him. 'Poor kid' Nought thought. Sighing he crushed the cigarette under his foot and entered the building where he saw Alfred on one side of the counter laughing as he was being told about Tiberius getting hit upside the head. Shaking his head Nought approached the group of teenagers and cleared his throat causing everyone to turn and face him.

"So you guys get your gear yet?"

Silence was all that Nought got from his question sighing he plopped himself on one of the chairs and looked at the group and made a shoeing motion.

"Alfred, go and get them basics of whatever weapon the want as well as ammo if they're ranged; they start training tonight. Start with Tiberius I need a moment with the rest of the guards."

Alfred nodded and motioned for Tiberius to follow him. Turning back to the rest of the group Nought motioned for them to come around him.

"Don't bother Tiberius about what happened in the Velvet room after he left that is something that for now is between Igor, myself and him, I've asked Natalia to forget about it and she has. I'm asking you all to do the same." Nought got a curious gaze from Bill and a shrug from Jak. It was Arya as he expected that was the problem."

"Why don't we get to know what's going on with our own teammate, are we not good enough or strong enough to know I guarantee you that I'm just as strong as that boy... … only I'm not am I?" Arya looked up at Nought with a look of concern on her face, fear that she was inadequate for this job because she was the only woman in the group.

"Different," the single word from Bill made Nought almost hugged the boy for his brilliance.

"He's right Arya, you are different, Imagine the group if there were two Tiberiuses… Tiberii, *sigh* if there were two of Tiberius how do you think the group would run in the long run?" Seeing the three in front of him start laughing well two laughed Bill simply smirked heavily and let a snicker or two loose, made Nought smile, they hopefully understood that they covered each others weaknesses and needed each other for their job to work.

Shortly Alfred returned with Tiberius wearing an incredibly simple long sword it was of questionable quality with iffy balance, but it was a blade that he could use. Sending Bill off next, Nought thought like a teacher for a second.

"Did you all do your homework yet?" there were two yeses and a no from Jak, when Jak saw Noughts face he asked for the keys to get his bag from the van. Nodding his head Nought tossed the keys to the Odyssey over to Jak who ran out and shortly returned black bag over his shoulder from where he started pulling out his homework. After a cough Jak looked up sheepishly and slid the keys over the counter to Nought who made sure that all of his keys were still there.

Not too long after Bill returned almost empty handed except for a set of leather gloves with a bit of extra cushion on the knuckles. Nodding his head Nought pointed to Arya as the next one to go.

"Boys you are all going to have to be careful with Arya."

"What'd I miss," Tiberius was the first to respond with Bill almost simultaneously shooting a look of concern.

"The Daft girl believes that she's under par for some reason, also she's self-conscious about herself in part because of Tiberius..." everyone stared over to Jak who was still bent over his homework currently figuring out a multiple function polynomial solving it for several different domains. A look of all went over everyone's face as they watched him stop and look up with a serious face for once. It looked strange on the clown's face but it seemed to belong there all the same. He sighed and put down the pen and started speaking in almost unaccented English. "Yes the accent is real before we go any farther but I over play it most of the time. Look up there." Everyone's eyes followed his finger and they saw the major Arcana on the ceiling forming an interesting circle. He pointed to arcana zero through five listing them as he went. "Fool, Magician, Priestess, _Empress_, Emperor, need I continue, she's also afraid a little bit of Priestess, and of Lovers. She likes Tiberius that's obvious only the boy she likes would be able to make her happy, furious, then make her roll on the ground laughing when he explains to someone how she beat him over the head. She's afraid that Tiberius is going to fall in love with one or more of those other girls and leave her and Fortune in the dust… Need I go on?"

The jaws stayed down until Arya returned a short time later laughing at a joke Alfred told her that automatically made Tiberius jealous, 'Wait … yup, jealous'. Sighing Tiberius looked at her again, she was attractive especially when she was smiling, her body didn't have an over abundance of curves more compact, but there was no doubting her gender. Her brown hair was a milk chocolate color that he actually found attractive. There was more to that though, she was intelligent and didn't act all whiny or attempted to play cute by being ditzy like plenty of girls that he knew. Yeah he did like her, in fact he is almost shocked that he didn't think about it sooner… wait he didn't but he acted when he grabbed her hand body knew before he did, smart body.

Arya walked forward and looked Tiberius up and down for a moment. The bow that she had wasn't _bad _per say but… ok yes it was bad but it was also cheep and would have to do especially when it came with free ammo and quiver. She saw Nought motion for Jak to go last, nodding Jak motioned for Alfred to come over to him. She watched Alfred move out of the corner of her eye as she returned to looking at Tiberius, she knew that she shouldn't feel like this about anyone so quickly, if she should ever let anyone make her feel like he does already. Sighing she thought that yes he does look like a god, albeit a cold or vengeful one at times but a god none the less, and when he was kind, he was kind and funny and caring. That and she enjoyed the eye undressing that she just received from him ('I'll have to talk to him about that later.'), but he was complex and part of that was the coldness that made her hurt inside for whatever reason. 'Can I deal with that? Can I make it so that he's always warm, to me if no one else? Is it worth the risk? I know I'm lucky but… At the very least I better keep the Empress away from _my_ Emperor. Wait _my Emperor? _I think I need to give my mom a call…though I probably shouldn't tell her _everything_.'

Jak called out in victory when Alfred sighed shaking his head as he went into a back room and came back carrying a two gun belt rig that had two eight-shot pepperbox revolvers as well as having the ammo belt filled with cartridges. Smiling Jak threw it on and slapped the twenty on the table and signed some papers. Shaking his head Nought shot a raised eyebrow at Alfred who just threw up his hands and walked over to Tiberius and motioned for him to follow.

* * *

"Do you know how to use that thing or are you just a sword nerd?" Alfred had a serious face when he asked the question; forcing Tiberius to really think for a second before he continued.

"I know the basics from a couple of different styles, but I can't do a lot of the actual true skill sword play yet."

"Would you like to learn, I know a guy you could learn from. He taught me. But I should warn you, he has dementia; it's not bad now but who knows… maybe he can help you."

"You can use a sword?"

The blade was against Tiberius' throat before he could blink it was a full blade about two feet of Damascus steel forged and cared for, the blade was back in the cane so fast that Tiberius almost missed it.

"It's your Grandfather who could teach me isn't it?"

"Yes or No?"

"Can he help me protect what is mine?"

"Is what is yours worth dying for?"

"Yes."

"Then yes he can teach you how to protect it."

"Yes, I'll learn."

"I'll make a call, be at this address," pulling out a card with an address Alfred slipped the card into Tiberius' breast pocket, "tomorrow by four o'clock."

Joining back up with the group he saw that they were all laughing, he smiled. This is what he wanted to protect this is what was worth dying for.

**CRACK**

The sound of breaking glass was followed by a rushing sound of wind that never came the world faded to as the Fool Card floated in the eyes of the four, what they didn't know was that Nought also knew what was going on but he decided to keep that to himself. A layer of voices calm and full filled the ears of the group.

"_We are Thou… … Thou are We… …_

_Thee and Thou hast Established a new Bond … …_

_It Brings Thee closer to Rescuing the Princess… …_

_May Thou be blessed when _

_Creating Persona of the Fool Arcana…"_

Nought ushered everyone into the car and to their homes quickly before they could even fire a question, ordering them all to go to sleep and focus on which of their clothes they would wear if they were going to fight with their new weapons. One by one they all fell into sleep, entering deep into their dreams and leaving reality behind.

* * *

They were in the classroom. Nought was sitting in the front of the room but he looked different. He was wearing blue jeans with combat boots and an open leather Jacket over a white tee-shirt. Over his shoulder was a huge axe. Looking at the group Nought took in what he saw.

Jak was wearing blue Jeans with brown boots and white a collared shirt; his rig was about his waste. Bill wore dark navy Jeans with gray sneakers; his new leather gloves matched the color of his brown leather coat which he wore over a black shirt. Arya was dressed in a short, but not mini, skirt with a pair of shorts underneath she had her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder over a camo jacket that was buttoned all the way up. Tiberius was dressed in a pair of loose fitting cargo-pants, cross-trainers, and a black and grey shirt, his sword was currently on his right hip. 'Funny', Nought thought, 'Never noticed he was a lefty'. Nodding his head Nought looked at them again one at a time to make sure they were paying attention.

"Well everyone, hope you're ready for some training…"

* * *

**King: So Tired Sleep now King and Commoner, please wrap this thing up and work your magic please. Before I pass into the arms of Hypnos and travel into sweet oblivion I just want to say thank you for reading, Even if you don't review (I wish you did) I write these things so that people read them and so long as they're being read then I'm happy. Peace out I'm going back to my lair now.**

**KaC: Dude, you really need to start sleeping at night.**


	3. Class is in Session

**King: WHOOO First Review thank you Noelle Strife, because you asked descriptions: Bill is about 6'4" weighs about 220 lbs Blond hair deep dark blue eye makes all women on sight, Tiberius 6' even 180 black hair and sharp emerald green eyes, Jak 5' 5" 120 soaking wet, black hair, almost grey blue eyes, and Arya 5'3 100 lbs chocolate brown hair and rich similarly colored eyes. Hope that this clears up a couple things. I will work on the suggestions you gave me. Anyways so again I have a fully functional laptop again, I'll be able to update at a much faster rate. On with the summary of the last chapter: The students found out that their Physics teacher Drove a mini-van, the kids went back to The Velvet room and learned about social links, Igor walked! After everyone fazed out Tiberius came face to eye's with an 'it', Nought gave the kids money, then he entered The Velvet room and sang a song with Natalia, The kids went looking at shiny things (Ohhh, Shiny), met an awesome Teenage Gentleman, Nought came in and played semi-responsible adult, the rest of the group was told to leave Tiberius alone, after words the boys were told to be careful with Arya, Jak became serious, Tiberius got sword shoved against his throat and agreed to take lessons from a man with dementia, everyone got home and went to sleep… missing anything Beta? **

**KaC: *Playing P4 Arena*Come on just a little more …**

**King: Ear buds in place, drinks in position, Music set to shatter ear drums, let's do this. But first a lesson:**

"Hello" **someone is talking.**

'Hello' **someone is thinking or something is happening internally.**

"Blah 'Hello' Blah" **someone is paraphrasing or quoting what someone else said while talking.**

'Blah (Hello) Blah' **sub-thought, an explanation of a thought you know like when you see something going on and you think about it and a clause attaches to the thought without you thinking about it.**

**King anything else Beta?**

**KaC: *Uses Myriad Truth on Elizabeth* Victory! **

**King: And now on with the Show!**

Sighing, Nought leaned against the desk in the front of the room he watched as the kids practice for now the third hour in dream time. Tiberius was practicing close combat with Bill while Jack and Arya were practicing with targets at a couple ranges he threw together; thankfully it was his world so he could pull that with almost a snap of the fingers. 'Well at least they're not horrible…' Nought shook his head when he saw Tiberius misjudge his distance and landed a solid blow against Bills blond head with the flat of his blade. 'Franklin cast a Diarama on Bill, we don't want him to get injured for real.' Getting a reassuring 'pressure' Nought walked over and smacked Tiberius hard over the back of the head.

"Damn it Tiberius, you need to be able to put your sword where the hell you want it to go. With what you're going to be fighting if you try for a sloppy attack…" Nought made a motion towards Bill who was still unconscious on the ground. "…and miss your mark you won't do anything but piss it off and that will put not only yourself but the team in general in danger."

"Sorry Doc."

"Don't be sorry just do better." Nought rubbed the back of his head trying to figure out what Tiberius' issue with this combat was, 'He is in control of everything most of the time, how can swordplay be… Oh, that actually makes sense…'

Sighing Tiberius helped Bill up to his feet. 'Nought is right,' Tiberius sighed out loud trying to relieve some internal stress. 'I do need to get better. I should ask Nought about what we were going to be fighting but knowing Jak he should be curious enough to burst at this point…' Tiberius looked over expectantly at said Ausie. Jak looked different, his icy blue eyes focused on several targets that were in motion on the mobile target range, inhaling and slowly exhaling Jak's left hand went down to his side and after six near perfect shots the weapon was placed back into its holster.

Jak sighed and ran a hand through his inky black locks. "Nought… um, what are we going to be fighting that we have to train like this?" Everyone stopped their training and faced Nought. He knew that the question was coming. Opening his mouth he answered just like he had planned.

"Shadows Jak, and before you ask, yes I have fought them, and yes there is more to it than just your martial skills, and no as of right now I won't be telling you what or how you will be using the other needed part. Now all of you, back to training, you don't have too much time." Nought sighed again and watched as Bill and Tiberius started to spar again, Jak turned back towards the mobile range while Arya was working on her control, fully drawing the string of the bow and shooting at different parts of silhouettes that Nought had marked with targets, about half hit where she wanted, and all of them hit the silhouettes.

'Bills good, actually, so is Jak,' Nought decided to take a different kind of look at his students, 'Luckily they're so focused that they shouldn't notice this.' After a mumbled "Jefferson" and a slight glow Nought looked again, this time he saw lines of symbols around each of their heads. Looking carefully at each one Nought ran a general capabilities check. 'So Bill is currently the Highest when it comes to Endurance, useful to know, Ok Magic, Luck is… well it could be better, Strength is good, Agility… well at least the kid can take a hit. Moving on, Arya… lowish Strength, high… actually very high Luck that's to be semi-expected though, above normal Magic, good, actually very good Agility, lower Stamina than I would like, but then again she shouldn't be in the front lines as much. Jak, solid all around on the stats, he should up his Agility some though it's ok for now, his Strength though, that worries me but again with those guns…. Last, but not least Tiberius… Wow that's a lot of Strength and Magic, he is ok with Endurance, Agility is actually pretty good, and time for the luck… oh good lord that Luck… actually that makes a lot of sense with what I know about his life. Okay, time for some fun, hehehe.' Nought smiled to himself as he called the kids over.

"Alright guys that's enough training for now, I want you to go out into the halls and wander around… Go, go go! I'm not going to tell you all again, and go separate ways from each other." Nought motioned again for them to go out into the world, 'hopefully nothing goes wrong, but then again I did build it.'

As the group left the room the path went in two different directions splitting to the left and the right, Tiberius and Arya went to the left while Bill dragged Jak to the right. No sooner had Bill tugged his Ausie friend away from their other teammates than Jak started to complain about wanting to follow them and spy on what they were going to do. "…After all they are two adolescents walking about in a strange place that they could get lost together in, and if they got lost together they might start doing the Hanky-Panky…"

"Leave them alone Jak," Bill was now behind his tiny friend forcing him away from following the pair of retreating figures. "Let them talk to each other and figure some things out."

Jak stopped when he heard Bill's voice continue on for more than two words. "Oi, you're talking mate… like speaking multiple sentences…"

"Of course I can talk you damn Aussie imbecile," Bill looked at the little man in front of him left brow twitching, his deep blue eyes looked on to his friends light ones. Jak gulped as he saw Bill's mouth open again. "I've always had the ability to talk that doesn't mean I'm going to go blathering on about the littlest things like some people I can mention. Do you know how annoying it is when people won't just shut the hell up and focus on what they need to do? I mean come on how hard is it to…" Jak looked on in horror while Bill went on and on about the stupidity of some things, his eye's glazing over Jak almost hit a wall seeing that there were two directions he decided that now would be a great time to split from his giant of a friend. Seeing Jak go down one of the paths Bill sighed and shut his mouth turning he began walking down the opposite path. 'It felt good to go off like that.'

Tiberius and Arya turned and started walking away from Bill and Jak when Tiberius offered her his right arm, smiling she took it and they strolled away when they heard Bill start to go off on their Australian friend. Smiling at each other they continued to walk away from Bill's growing voice, the smiles turned to looks of horror when he didn't stop.

"I didn't know that Bill could talk so much…" Tiberius stared when he heard Arya giggle at his remark; it was a light chime like sound, 'New favorite sound.' Smirking he pulled his right arm closer to him, his Uncle Roy would be proud. Arya snuggled into the arm just as planned, her quiver knocking into the sheath sitting on his hip as they walked.

Looking the boy up and down, she let an _almost_ un-lady like smirk touch her lips as she imagined what he might look like in tighter pants and a tighter or even no shirt. 'Hmm, Tasty,' A slight blush touched her cheeks when her companion turned and raised a single questioning eyebrow at her.

"What are you thinking about?" the question was most likely an honest and innocent one, though the answer was definitely not. Shifting her eye's slightly she saw that the path that they were on was going to spilt.

"So tell me St. Louie boy," the Louie came with a smirk as she motioned her head towards the wall in front of them. "You want to go to the North or the South?"

"I'll follow you wherever you go." Tiberius' smirk was cut off by a chuckle from the girl on his arm.

"What do you mean Tiberius?" Arya blushed at his answer, 'Idiot, that's sweet though.' Deciding to play it off she used her fake innocent voice that matched her accent well. Peeking she saw Tiberius smirk a bit with the black hair and green eyes it really was a stunning look. "You heard Nought he wanted for us to go in separate directions. I'm going to go south here; I recommend you go north. No following. We don't want Nought to scar your pretty face, now do we?" Smiling, Arya turned and started to go down the path. After hearing him sigh and walk away, she started humming and continued down the path.

'Time to have some fun with the kiddies...' Nought had a fairly evil grin on his face when sat at the command center that he made while the kids left the room; clicking on the map he looked at the wall where the projector showed a simple map with one kid in each quadrant, clicking on Bills quadrant of the map Nought made a few keystrokes and hit the Microphone button.

"Hey Bill how'd you like to play a game…" '…Was Bill ranting to himself?!'

"….amned stupid people they annoy the hell out of me, 'Oh look he's a Huge Jock he has to be an idiot,' I am the Renaissance Man for crying out loud. Jesus H. Christ on a crutch just because I can beat the crap out of a person doesn't mean I'm a damned Neanderthal like some of the guys on the team, yes most of them are nice but sadly they are a bit dense…" Nought sighed and upped the microphones volume; he's heard enough of the rant, 'who knew Bill could talk this much though.'

"BILL."

"Oh… um hey Nought, how much of that have you heard?"

Bill had been walking alone for a bit ranting about the stupidity of most of the world, usually he didn't talk this much but it felt good to be able to keep going out loud, the act of actually speaking made his mind lighter, he began to see the appeal to it, not that he planned on making it a habit.

"Is it really that surprising that I can be eloquent at times, just because I don't talk doesn't make me an imbecilic giant. I mean come on I am sick and tired of d…" Bill continued over still on a roll when Nought called in louder.

"BILL!" that was Nought's voice… 'Wait Nought's voice, oh shit…'

"Oh… um hey Nought, how much of that have you heard?"

"Don't worry about that now, anyways Bill what do you think about a little extra training?" clicking on some other keys Nought pulled up a split screen video feed from several different angles going down the halls in front of Bill's current point onward. "It'll be _fun_…"

"What do you have in mind Nought?"

"Mobile target practice, of course, I have some targeted silhouettes that I have set up along your path."

"Sounds like fun, let's do it."

"Finish the targets in twenty minutes and I'll buy you a steak."  
"Deal," and with that Bill was off. As he turned the corner a silhouette slid out of the wall with three targets two small on either side of the head and one larger one on the chest. Focused punches hit one, two, three; and the silhouette dissipated into the shadows. Moving on down the line two different silhouettes came into view. No targets were visible. Making himself flush with the wall, Bill watched the silhouettes for a second. 'I'm not sure what these things are made of, but they move like they're alive.' One of the silhouettes turned and Bill was able to make out a small target on the back of the weird oval shaped silhouette. "STEAK FOR THE STEAK GOD!"

Nought left one camera on Bill as he moved on to Tiberius. His blip was moving around in the north eastern side of the map at at a slow place. Tiberius' image popped up on several screens. Nought noticed that Tiberius was working on his sword work with a basic combination of cuts and stabs. Glancing at Bill's screen he watched the boy rush two silhouettes, hitting one square in the target with a strong right cross before pivoting on the spot and driving an elbow into the target of its partner. Tiberius started cursing and Nought picked it up on the mic.

"Damn," Nought mumbled as he slid a cig into his mouth and lit it. "Poor kid is putting all this pressure on himself. Why is he so serious about this? Half the time he falls apart at a small mistake and the other half he's laughing off the biggest ones… oh god I'm stupid." Hitting another few strokes Nought brought up a live interactive feed on Tiberius. "Tiberius this is Nought, respond if you can hear me."

"I hear you Doc, what's up?" Instantly Nought saw Tiberius force himself back under control.  
'So that's it,' Nought shook his head as he pieced together what was wrong, 'Stupid kid uses that mask of arrogance and skill to protect himself from his feelings of self-loathing, the question is how to fix it, and to fix it I have to know what caused it.' "Tiberius, how would you like for me to teach you a little secret about sword fighting."

"Teach me O wise one."

"Enough of the lip, a big part of your issue comes from concentrating too much on what you're doing and not enough on what your enemy is doing. Learn to read your opponent or all your skill will be pointless."

"OK, so how do you want me to work on that?"

"You'll find an mp3 player in the chest in front of you. It should be just like the one you have back home, this one will work just fine here."

Walking forward Tiberius saw a little red chest on the ground. After examining it for a moment he pulled back his leg and kicked the chest open. The mp3 jumped high into the air and fell into his outstretched hand. He plugged in the headphones and started his music. It sounded just like the one that his father gave him when he was 14 and asked for an mp3 player. He checked the library and found it had all of his favorites. "Alright Nought, what's next?"

"Simple Tiberius, we train…" As Nought spoke, targeted silhouettes popped out along the hall. "Tiberius this is really simple you need to focus not on what you're doing but the movements of your enemy, I don't want you to rush through this course, it's not designed to improve your speed it's designed to improve your overall battle perception. With your targets in constant motion, if you focus too much on what you're doing then you won't be able to hit the targets. You have to hit every target cleanly before the next will activate. Ready…Go."

Tiberius nodded his head to the beat as he continued down the hall. He was improving, but he knew he was still too stiff. 'Damn another one…' He glared at the target he missed and went back to the front of the hall to restart the course. Breathing slowly, Tiberius tried to relax his mind. He was about to start again when Nought's voice came through.

"Tiberius, what are you thinking about?"

"That I have to get better or I'm going to get everyone hurt."

"Well stop that."

"What?"

"Stop thinking that. If you're too worried about letting everyone down then you won't be able to concentrate on protecting them."

"So you want me to stop thinking?"

"Don't think, act. Let your mind flow with the music. Your current selection is too wide. Try focusing on a single genre to listen to while you training. You played baseball right?"

"Yeah."  
"You're pre-game music, what was it?"

"Rap, with some Alt-rock thrown in for the most part."

"Well focus on that and try again."

Tiberius switched on his music and turned to the first target. He moved to the first target and swung his blade up, slicing deep into the silhouette. He saw the second target out of the corner of his left eye, spun on his heel and struck it dead center. The third target appeared down the hall and he charged it, stopping two feet away and pivoting, bringing the blade across the center of the silhouette. 'Halfway there,' he thought. The fourth target popped up just outside his current reach. He took a step forward and brought the sword across the target, imbedding the blade to its left.

Nought watched him run through the track another time. He kept getting stuck at the same spot. "Tiberius, you need to take a break."

"No."

"Listen to me Tiberius. You're getting too worked up. Take a breath and calm down."

"NO! I can't fail again. I will not let anything else happen because of me." Nought watched as Tiberius forced himself to stop and calm down. The boy was fighting back tears and quickly losing. Nought could hear his labored breath and see him shake.

"Tiberius?"

"Set it up again."

"Tiberius before I reset it, I want you to do something for me."

"And that would be?"

"I need you to focus on breathing. Take control of it. Force it into a rhythm you're comfortable with, and _calm yourself down_. Focus on this thought: 'a loose body needs a loose mind.' You need to release the tension in your body before your mind will be able to process the battle around you. You already know the moves. You just need to keep a cool head. Hit the wall when you're ready to begin."

Tiberius tried in vain to do as Nought said. After a couple minutes he decided to try a trick he learned from an old family friend. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, making sure to hold it. He focused inward, stripping away his excess thoughts one by one. When he opened his eyes, his breath had evened out into a smooth rhythm; the phantom weight on his shoulder began to drift downward until it rested on his heels. It was like all of his responsibilities, his obligations, had stopped weighing him down and started pushing him forward. The feeling was enthralling.

When Nought looked through the screens he saw Tiberius' eyes shift from their normal green to a golden yellow. Tiberius hit the wall. As the course started, Nought realized that he wasn't watching a training course anymore. He was watching a dance; there was no break between the movements. They flowed freely from one to the next. Every movement was flawless and none were wasted. Tiberius moved flawlessly across the hall. With one final move, a simple upward cut that split the target cleanly in two, Tiberius collapsed on the spot.

"You ok?" Nought's voice caught Tiberius and snapped him back to reality.

"I'm fine. Just… just let me rest here for a minute." After receiving a confirmation Tiberius just laid there and let his mind wander. Sometime later he realized that he needed to get up and get moving. He continued down the halls, hitting the targets as they came at him, but he couldn't force himself to move the way he had before…

Nought went over and clicked on Jak's marker, the kid was walking down the halls taking turns at random. Jak was probably the one that needed the least work out of the rest of them. 'So Bill had little issue/ Tiberius took longer than I thought, but he's going the right way now so that's good. I'll touch on Jak for a minute then move onto Arya. Hitting the mic button Nought cleared his voice into the microphone.

"Oh, hey Doc No, whats going on?"

"Individual training exercises."

"Oh so that's why you wanted us to split up. This way you can more effectively split your time between the four of us, and give us instructions. You're watching us through what? CCTV? Clever. And effective I might add. So what's on my roster Nought?"

Nought shook his head as Jak put everything together. Jak got everything almost right as usual, smiling Nought flipped a switch on his keyboard and a series of targets started to move all across a room near Jak. "Go to that room on your right and open the door. I'll be timing you from when that door opens to when the last of the targets is shattered. Good luck Jak." Nought sat back and watched Jak go through the door with one of his guns drawn, eight shots and he changed guns, eight shots after that he started to reload right there in the open. Nought flipped a switch and one of the remaining targets sent a ball of Ice right at Jak hitting him square on the top of the head.

"OW! What in the blood soaked protestant hell was that?!"

"That was an ice cube, and it shot you because you were open. You are a good shot with those guns of yours but… How did you manage to pay for those by the way?"

"Payment plan…"

"Jak how much were the pistols?"

"$150…"

"Well good luck paying that back."

"Yeah… anyways though why the hell did that damn thing of yours shoot me?"

"I told you already Jak, you were open. You shoot great but you're too rigid, you need to be moving for cover and try not to be seen. The room is set up so you have cover if you can find it. Now try again."

"Righto" Jak exited the room reloaded his guns and tried again. Opening the door, he took pop shots at several of the silhouettes as he moved to the first bit of cover. Focusing on the movements of the targets he took clam shots one after another. Reloading as needed Jak cleared all of the cutouts that he could see. Stepping out from behind his cover he felt something hard and cold hit him square on the forehead. "Let me guess doc, too sedentary?"

"Too sedentary, try again." Nought watched on with glee as Jak kept trying again and again to do the room, 'That's right kid keep trying. You'll figure it out. Your guns will work on all but the one that's in your blind spot under cover. Come one kid you can do it.' Jak kept trying and trying, and time and time again he got down to the last one before getting shot from moving out of cover. He was getting faster though, even with all of the silhouettes on random motion. Nodding his head Nought almost cheered when in frustration Jak took one of his guns and threw it over cover smacking the last target spot on, it was a luck thing but it worked. "Well done Jak, ready for levels 2-10?"

"There's more?" Jak sighed as he walked towards the door on the other side of the room. Pulling it open Jak sighed when Ice cubes smacked where his head was only a moment before. "Right, this is gonna suck…"

Back in the base room Nought was about to click on Arya when he decided to walk around for a minute. Sitting in one spot for an extended period of time made ones leg itch after all. Stopping in front of the screen he watched as all of the boy's were practicing, Bill was making another run through his course while Tiberius was moving with more and more grace as he continued down his path way. Jak was still having issues with counting his shots, he was great for those sixteen shots but after… suddenly Nought froze and turned toward the wall behind him an inky black door that wasn't there a moment ago flickered in and out of existence. 'Oh so not good…' typing a few quick key strokes Nought's voice filled the entire area. "Be on High alert everyone, if you see something weird and not painted with a target do not engage, repeat do not engage you must retreat… I REPEAT YOU MUST RETREAT."

"Sorry Nought." Tiberius looked around, "Not running on this one. Call it arrogance, but it's not going to happen, the Romano men never run from a fight."

"Tiberius… bad idea," Nought attempted to scare the boy to obeying an order, 'Break the king and the others will fall into line, have to move quickly though, open channels means that they all can hear this…'

"I'm with Tiberius, deadset with it actually." Jak's chipper voice was the one that Nought really didn't want to hear agreeing with Tiberius. 'Too late, queue Bill in three, two, one...'

"Well if the Aussie, and Tiberius are in with it I might as well keep going too." 'And there goes Bill right on time… Wait why haven't we have Arya check in yet.' "Boys where's Arya? Find her now go, and for all that's holy out there be freakin' careful." Nought checked the map she wasn't moving but there was a huge power closing in on her, it almost looked like a Persona user… No they couldn't have come in here. His defenses should be up… 'Oh no. All of the training gear put a strain on the defensive systems!'

After taking several other turns AryaS found herself facing a door, it appeared to be a normal door, trying the handle she sighed when the handle didn't move. 'Locked…' sighing she turned to see a man skirt back around the corner; smirking, she walked to the shadowy corridor. "Tiberius is that you? If you're not careful your going… to… get… hit… Wh-what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here…" The panic in her voice got stronger and stronger as she saw who it was that was hiding in the corner.

Tiberius knew he was being followed, he planned for it actually, reaching in to a pocket he drew out the ear buds and slipped them into place before flipping on his mp3 player, 'Oh, Drop the World (explicit, cause no other version of a song is worth listening to), great song.' Hitting the play button the songs intro filled his mind. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Tiberius saw the blobs closing in. They were strange looking things, black and amorphous with blue masks. When they got closer to him some of them began to shiver and reform themselves. Giant mouths on one side with those masks on the opposite side, they're grins set Tiberius on edge but he calmed himself down. 'One shot gotta make it count… almost in range, count it down. Five.' His left hand slid down to sheath on right hip. 'Four.' loosening his entire body he remembered the one move that Nought had actually taught him in all that training, it wasn't even a technique, just a way to move. Tiberius had only been able to see it once but he needed it now. He concentrated and the weight fell a bit more easily this time. 'Three.' Intro was over and he heard Wayne start his first lyrics… closing his eyes the last of the tension faded away as his hand finally gripped the handle of his blade. 'Two.' It was almost time. He held steady until he could almost hear them over the buds in his ears. 'One.' The bass dropped and Tiberius opened his eyes. They had once again lost their emerald hue and began to glow with a golden light…

Bill left his training area trying to find someone. A set of shadows seemed to take a liking to him. Running Bill noticed something odd. The shadows moved just like the silhouettes. Sliding to a stop, Bill turned and approached one of the floating shadows. Seeing a mask where the target would be, Bill grinned. Charging and pulling back his right arm he let fly a solid left jab followed by a right hook. The first punch made contact with the mask causing a small crack. The second shattered the mask on contact. Breathing in and out Bill grinned as the thing let out a scream before it broke apart and drifted away. "We can kill these things. We can do this…" Seeing several more of the amorphous blobs turn a corner and close in on him, Bill cursed and turned to run away. "We can kill them, but there are a whole hell of a lot more of them then there are of us."

Nought was looking at the Grid trying to figure out what was going on, when he saw the door to his room open. In walked a pair of twins, each armed with a pole arm. Their faces, their movements, even their dresses perfectly mirrored each other. Each of the girls wore a short skirt, tight top and a cut off jacket in a black and white theme. Their halberds followed the motif, one with a black head and white shaft, the other reversing it. They walked in the room with smiles on their faces, but their eyes were already dead. Nought reached mentally for his axe as they started to speak in perfect harmony, with the same dead tone.

"We come bearing a message from the Sable Prince. It is to be delivered to his old enemy. We have reasoned that this would be you. You are the only one in this dimension old enough to have gone against our master before. Your message is to cease and desist your interference with the next generation of players. If you decide to continue from this moment on, we are obligated to stop you. We have no desire to do so; you will now comply. Correct?" The twins tilted their heads as the finished and the empty smile filled there features again.

"Please take my answer as such," Nought said as he materialized his axe. He felt the familiar rush of combat. The velvet room had wetted his appetite for this battle, 'Don't lie. You've felt that hunger since you opened the files for the next game…' So maybe he did, he didn't care. "You two are drastically under powered to match me." Lifting his hand in front of him he summoned one of his cards, it was his Fool. "Franklin…" as he spoke the name he broke the card several large Lightning bolts fell from the sky slamming into both girls, driving them both into the ground. Slowly they rose back up…

Jak made his way over to the door and let himself out of the complex of rooms that he'd been training in, 'Thank god for unlimited ammo.' That was one of the things most interesting to Jak about this place. Sighing Jak started to move with one of his guns out, walking through this labyrinth of a school. He darted from one bit of cover to the next. Every once and a while a shadow would cross his path. He timed his shots and slowly his way towards Nought's room. The closer he got the fewer shadows he ran into, but the heavier the air became. Jak reached the door; he looked inside the window as the lightning fell on the girls. His eyes widen when he looked over to Nought, standing there with a twisted grin on his face and his huge war axe over his shoulder. Behind Nought stood an opaque figure easily twelve feet tall. It faded quickly and all Jak remembered was the rotund figure. 'Well, I guess Nought doesn't need my help; time to find anyone else…"

Tiberius let the moves just come to him, it was like how Nought explained it to him while they were working on individual skills. If he was loose enough and kept his mind open and read the battle he could see it all. It was like he was a super computer processing huge quantities of information in the time it took for a bargain bin desktop to download a single document. It was almost easy. He saw one of the shadows come down for a bite. Rolling out of the way Tiberius didn't even look over his shoulder as he reversed the grip on his blade and sliced right through the mask. Two of them tried to attack him at once circling like sharks around a wounded orca. 'Inhale… exhale… ' Shifting his weight as the shadows struck at him, he turned his body sideways while he sliced up one mask and down another. 'Damn that hurt…' Looking down at his right arm, Tiberius watched a trail of blood flow down the limb. 'Huh, looks like the bastards got me after all. Damn … why do I feel so heavy.' Tiberius almost stumbled as he made one final slash at a nearby shadow, hitting it dead on as he collapsed.

Arya was starting to panic. The boy leaning against the wall, he was the boy from earlier who mouthed those words to her. He was in an odd outfit. A long black duster hung over his shoulders. Underneath it was what looked like leather armor. On his back was a huge two-handed sword that hung cross shoulder. She couldn't help it she screamed.

"This isn't that bad, at least I can rest here for a second," then he heard it, the scream, and not just any scream, her scream. It broke his trance. His head snapped around and focused in on the screams direction his ear buds dangling out of his cargo pants pocket. Stumbling to his feet he broke out in a dead run. Tiberius knew he had to be getting close when he turned a corner and met a wall of Shadows. He tried to cut his way through, but they were everywhere. They were trying to eat him. He didn't stop moving. He couldn't stop moving. He had to get to her. He had to save her. A shadow blindsided him and knocked him down. He was in trouble, but he couldn't seem to get a hand on stopping it. A pressure started to build in his head. Forcing himself to his feet, Tiberius felt the pressure grow and grow. A word came unbidden to his lips. The pressure nudged him forward as the word forced itself out of his lips one syllable at a time.

"Per-so-na."

**KING: Well Everyone to apologize for the wait I have a special gift to all of you… the next chapter will be out within the next few days. So come on, come on, move it read the next chapter and you might as well review one, both, anything I love reviews, I love follows, I love favorites, I even Love PMs. I'll update with or without them. That said though I really would love to see what people think. KaC. Do you thing and close us out.**

**KaC: May the force be with you.**


	4. Strength From Within

"Per-so-na…"

As the word came out of Tiberius' mouth he saw a card appear before him. It was the Emperor card, his representation in the Tarot deck, it hung there waiting for him to do something. A shaking hand reached forward and touched the card a raging blue flame consumed his left arm to the elbow but he didn't burn it felt warm but not burning hot. He felt the pressure wanting him to break the card. It wasn't a voice or a feeling but more of a force in his mind. Closing his thumb against the first knuckle of his forefinger Tiberius took it and with a flick of his wrist threw it on the ground where it shattered like glass. A powerful voice filled his ears, it wasn't threatening but the power of it could almost be felt:

_I AM THOU… …THOU ARTE ME… …_

…_THOU ARTE THE ONE THAT WILL LEAD TOWARDS TOMORROW…_

…_USE MY THUNDER TO FORCE YOUR PATH…_

…_I AM CANNONDIER…_

A large figure was kneeling where the shattered card hit the ground. It was over ten feet tall and was at least half as broad as it was tall while kneeling, the head was covered by a short billed cap in olive drab; sharp predator like golden eyes could be seen under its bill. A steel plate covered the rest of the beings face; white steam billowed out of several large diagonal slits along the sides of the plate. The torso was the same green of the hat, made of several different overlapping parts more steam billowing out of gold gilded seems. The spherical shoulders were also olive green. Black arms with more gold filigree ran down to the elbows. The left arm turned into a giant cannon that had a smooth golden blade on the underside; the point of the blade ending what appeared to be a full two feet past the end of the barrel. The right arm ended with a hand, the fingers appeared to be hollow tough. The right hand was flat on the ground supporting the upper body. A blade hung from its left waist. The waist was more of the olive the legs started as olive but changed to gold near the cylindrical legs that had grounding plates. Tiberius watched the thing stand, 'Well, luckily I don't see a ceiling.'

Fully erect the figure looked to be at least eighteen feet tall. Steam stopped billowing out as it raised the left cannon arm, and fired a blast of electricity into the crowd of Shadows frying one of them. A roar came from deep inside the predatory being as it swiped down with its cannon arm, slicing a shadow clean in two; while its right hand drew the saber and sliced through a line of shadows. It then jumped backwards, landing behind Tiberius, standing like a sentinel over the remains of the shadows. It seemed to fade into Tiberius' shadow.

A pinging sound drew Nought's attention away from the girls, instead of attacking the man though the two girls were pulled through a black door that appeared behind them. Nought looked at the screen as a huge power surge came around Tiberius' location, his marker growing to fill the hallway for a second, and the signatures… 'He released, dear lord, he summoned his Persona.' Running over to his console, girls forgotten, he switched the screen from the map to a live video feed. Nought looked on in awe, a newly summoned persona can act in a couple of different ways, this one seemed to be more in a protective mind set then a destructive one. 'It's huge.' Nought looked and realized that the only persona he's ever seen that was bigger was Kanji's Rokuten Maoh. It was even similarly built with the spherical shoulders and overall mecha like appearance. It was different though; a sharp predator like intelligence seemed to come from golden human-like eyes. Where it was easy to tell that Maoh was a brute strength persona this one was harder to tell. Riding the power boost of a first summoning the Persona's Zio obliterated one of the shadows while the Cleave dropped another. Gale Slash dropped four more. There was brute strength there, but there was a certain kind of grace to the Persona's movements as it jumped back and landed behind Tiberius that betrayed more control, more fineness. Once the persona faded Nought called in on Tiberius.

"Tiberius, Respond."

"I'm here Doc. You have a visual on me?"

"Yeah, nice persona by the way I was wondering what it would look like."

"Persona, so that's what it is… are they all that big?"

"No, yours is actually larger than most, has more strength then most of its level to."

"Level?"

"We'll talk about that after you go save Arya."

"So I'm off to save the damsel with a sword and a huge cannon armed thing… well this'll be entertaining to say the least…"

"Have fun Prince Charming."

"Nah, I've always seen myself more of Beast saving the Beauty from an evil dude kind'a guy."

"Well then get running Beast, your Beauty is in trouble." Nought watched the teen run off, with so much going on Tiberius never noticed the powerful healing that Nought sent him. 'Good he doesn't need to know quite yet about wild cards. He needs to focus now,' switching back to a map he marked Tiberius heading straight for his goal, 'Interesting…'

Jak was moving carefully down the halls. He didn't like how this dream training thing was working out. *Bang* he wished that his guns were a little more quiet as another shadow fell. 'At least they were fairly accurate and as of yet haven't…' an explosion came from his gun as the remaining seven shots discharged simultaneously drew his attention away from his thoughts 'well bugger that's what I get for thinking about it.' Several of the shadow blobs were coming towards his area at this point, which was to be expected when that much noise came through a usually quiet area. Turning to run he stumbled over something, it was a little red chest on the ground kneeling down he remembered enough of the Zelda games that you always open chests, you never know what you could find in them. Inside was a coat pulling it out he looked at the tag inside it "Armored Duster by Twin Peaks… cool" Throwing on the duster it seemed to fit him perfectly. It was heavier then it looked and would probably slow him down a bit but he could also tell that it would help him if he got hit… Plus it fit with his outfit, bonus. He could really tell how useful the coat would be when one of the shadows blindsided him from behind. It knocked him down, and it hurt but not enough that he couldn't roll with the blow, draw a gun and blast the shadow to kingdom come. Getting up he started to limp away luckily that one seemed to be the last one in the area. The scream of his friend caught his attention right away turning and starting to run taking corners that felt right to him he continued to run. He caught sight of Bill running towards him, he must not have been aware of the shadows behind him. Taking aim at the shadows Jak fired his gun.

Arya turned and started to run from the boy, taking corners at random she fired arrows at black things that kept trying to get in her way. Running she tried to force her panic down, panic you die, pausing for a second she looked around, he was gone. Sliding down a wall she started to shake in fear. A pressure formed in the back of her mind. Forcing it down she attributed it to the stress. Breathing in and out she sighed and chuckled lightly to herself rising back up to her feet she stated to move again more organized this time she tried to find her way back to Nought's room .

Bill looked around at the sound of a scream not too far away, turning and starting to run. He tried to follow the scream but instead he ended up getting caught up in the maze. Not noticing the creature behind him Bill almost fainted when he saw Jak walk out from around a corner and raise his gun at Bill. Then he heard a set of three incredibly loud bangs and felt wind break next to his body. Turning around Bill saw some black things fade out of existence, looking back towards the way he was running Jak was there smoke drifting out of three barrels of the gun in his right hand.

"Come-along Bill-a-boy, we got some work to do," Jak was standing there in a jacket he must have picked up somewhere slung over his shoulder. Reloading the pistol in his right hand Jak slid it back home and cracked his back.

"Jak pleasure to see you, oh one thing," Bill made a motion with his gloved hand for Jak to come closer. Jak walked forward and cocked his head to the side he was about to open his mouth when Bill's fist made contact with his gut. "It you ever shoot past me again without warning I swear to god on high that I will beat you all the way back down under, do I make myself clear?"

"Yeah Mate, Crystal actually…" coughing Jak rubbed his stomach tenderly, 'Shoulda seen that one coming.' Hearing a roar Jak turned slowly, "Bill, I think it's time for us to start running…"

"Jak, I couldn't agree more…" Turning and breaking into a sprint the two boys started to hit corners almost at random, behind them the shadows seemed to be gaining and… Jak tripped, sliding to a stop Bill saw that he couldn't get close enough to grab his friend, digging deep he found something, it was strong, a part of him yet at the same time different, reaching into it he felt a 'pressure' in his head, it grew and grew a word came to his lips not knowing what it was the word escaped.

"Per-so-na."

A blue card with the scales of Justice floated before Bill the pressure urging him to break the card. Bill reached back and shattered the card with a strong right straight. As the card shattered like a pane of glass, a voice deep and dark filled the room…

_I AM THOU… … THOU ARTE ME… …_

…_THOU ARTE THE ONE WHO WILL GUARD TOMORROW…_

…_USE MY ILLUMINATION TO SEARCH FOR YOUR PATH…_

…_I AM VENGANCE …_

From deep within the spray came a figure about 10 feet tall it looked like a giant human skeleton with biker gear, the skull was wreathed in flames. A chain wrapped around left shoulder to right waist thinking Bill placed the figure in his mind. 'Oh sweet Jesus, that's Ghost Rider.' With a powerful roar some of the Shadows stumbled, looking a little weaker. A blast of fire came from its out stretched hand as a blast of light came from deep within its eyes. The blast of flames consumed one of the shadows while the light shined on another growing to a blinding brilliance that disappeared instantly. Bill got there in enough time to start throwing punches. By the time Jak got to his feet most of the shadows were down. "Well… that's, that's just plain impressive mate."

Jak and Bill heard a clapping of hands as a figure came into view a black trench coat seemed to flap in a non-existent wind. "Well done, indeed, unfortunately that won't be enough." With a wave of a hand several large black circles opened at various points of the walls. "Just to be safe," The teen drew the large sword strapped across his back. "Cassius…" A large figure came from behind the kid shooting straight towards Jak. Flapping robes and a bloody knife was all Jak saw until the floor seemed to rush up to meet him. Stunned as he was Jak forced himself to look up, he saw Bill fall to the ground the thing in roman garb dissipating. Shadows closing in Jak heard the laugh a cold and disturbing one that came from the retreating figure. "Well looks like you boys were no match, this isn't even a fight after breaking your fortune I was even able to beat the Justice easily. Good luck little Hierophant, let's see if you can win this fight by yourself." A snap of the armored hand caused several more black circles to fill the hall summoning a hoard of shadows. "In fact to make this easier I'll even leave, Hahahahahaha…." The laughing figure faded back into the darkness as it walked away leaving Jak shooting his gun with each shot another shadow dropped one, two, three… fifteen. 'One shot left, one damned and blood shot I can't reload I don't have time… Good I need help.'

"_All you have to do is ask…"_

'Who is there?'

"_Don't you want to fight? To win? To save your friend? You know what I am, call out to me, I will help you." _The voice was a light one that betrayed depth, a voice with several layers to it.

'What's your name?'

"_Call me forward and you will know…"_

A shadow came forward and tried to rush a squeeze of the trigger and the shadow dissipated back into nothingness, reaching in deep Jak did something he rarely did, pray. 'Please let this work…" Following the pressure he found its source, centering he licked his lips and dug in to it. A word forced itself through clenched teeth.

"Per-so-na."

The blue card with the hierophants cross floated in front of Jak reaching forward he hit the card with his gun causing it to split cleanly in quarters. As the quarters fell and shattered the same light voice from Jak's mind entered the room.

_I AM THOU… … THOU ARTE ME…_

…_THOU ARTE THE ONE THAT WILL DREAM TOWARD TOMORROW …_

…_USE MY WIT TO FLIP YOUR PATH…_

…_I AM ARTIST… _

The figure standing was smaller than Bill's Vengeance standing only about seven feet tall renascences era clothes draped around its figure a large brush was in its right hand while the left held a pad of paper. Moving the brush in a firm line a blast of ice cleaved a shadow in two, a flicking of its large wrist sent the brush clean through the mask of another, spinning on the spot the brush magically back in between it's fingers it sent a spiral stroke towards Bill a glowing light settled around him, the light seemed to be absorbed by Bill's body. Jak was in no position to watch the artistry of the attacks, quickly reloading and firing the guns he summoned Artist again and again. Behind the shadows a green and black hat covered a steel face, Jak hopped this was the cavalry coming in to save the day…

Nought looked on in horror as Jak and Bill were attacked by the armored kid, getting a closer look the kids name slipped out of his lips. The persona that was summoned was an odd one, the Sable card made Nought go red with rage. Bills persona was interesting the Hama was unexpected; good mind you just… unexpected. It was good to know that someone had healing capabilities and that it was Jak that had them made all the more sense. Keying up the mic system Nought tried to give a word of advice to the boys in danger. "Don't worry Tiberius is on his way, he's almost… Jak? Jak respond…" Thinking quickly Nought realized the issue, 'Bloody hell they have a Jammer…"

Tiberius ran towards the sounds of gun shots and saw Jak standing over what looked like a dazed Bill Shooting for his life summoning again and again his Persona. Smaller then Cannondier, the Persona looked to be about seven feet tall, it had a sketchpad in one hand and a brush in the other. Waving the brush it seemed to blast Ice after Ice attack at the swarms of shadows. Every once in a while it appeared and a golden light draped around either Bill or Jak. Taking in the sight caused Tiberius to summon Cannondier to do a bit of mayhem while he started to eat towards the back ranks of the shadows with his own blade. After a time it could have been minutes or hours of combat far as anyone knew. With Jak being a stone wall Tiberius wore the back of the shadows into nothing. When Tiberius got to Jak they watched the last of the shadows faded into nothing. "Sooo that was fun…"

"Yeah loads mate." Jak looked at Tiberius with a sarcastic look that broke into a true smile, Jak held out his hand for a hand shake. Tiberius grabbed him by the forearm and pulled him into a rough embrace. Patting each other's back they broke and started to laugh. While both of them had been in fights before true combat high was new to both of them, the heady feel of living after being so close to death was rushing over them. Looking down at Bill they both stopped and bent down to him. He looked fine physically almost like he was put to sleep. "Some Persona came at him, it wasn't a shadow it didn't look like one, didn't move like one and didn't feel like one…" Catching a breath before continuing Jak told Tiberius about Bill's Persona, then the Roman looking thing that appeared and tried to send an attack at Jak, Bill's stupid heroism for taking the attack, the flood of shadows that followed, summoning Artist, holding off the wave for so freaking long.

"Hugh" Tiberius sighed taking all this stuff in, "What about Nought? He should have been able to do something."

"Nought was a tad bit busy with a battle of his own last I checked. Ti, do… do you think there are more than just us with persona? I mean that's the only reason I can think of that he would attack other humans. Nought's been keeping secrets Ti, and I'm with Bill philosophy of truth and justice on this one…"

"Ugh…" Bill stirred and sat up blinking several times and shaking his head free from the unconsciousness. "How long was I out? Tiberius what are you doing here? Where's Arya did you get to her already?"

"Well Bill I haven't gotten to her quite yet, actually I'm going to need you and Jak to rescue her, feel like doing something stupid?"

Nodding his head Bill took Tiberius' hand and got back up to his feet. "Yeah what's the plan…"

"BOYS, THIS IS NOUGHT DO YOU COME IN, COME ON BOYS RESPOND THIS TIME…" Nought's voice came in loud and panicked.

"Nought calm down we're fine, we're all fine what do you mean 'this time' though?" Tiberius' bass came out clear and strong.

"Oh thank Igor's huge nose, you guys can hear me now, I think that they might have someone who can jam my signal, but for that to be like that… damn it… Boys you have to get moving I have markers set up to help you guys get to Arya, be warned with using your powers the drain will get to you quickly if you're not careful. I can't leave this room for right now, that's for your protection not mine, so good luck guys get to her you have to move now." Nought disconnected so quickly that none of the boys could respond. Looking over at Tiberius Jak's eyes got really wide.

"Your hurt mate." Tiberius smirked a bit at that

"Thank you Aussie the Obvious, now then can you do something about it?"

"Yeah I can now Just sit there for a mo. Artist." Tapping the card that appeared in front of him Jak worked through the seven foot ren-faire giant behind him a soft gold light worked its way over Tiberius' body surface wounds closed back up. "There that should help a bit."

"Great job Jak, I feel better already," Standing back on his feet Tiberius rolled his shoulders a couple of times. "Well Nought is going to be as he is quickly turning out to be, rather useless." A glowing sign over head made Tiberius pause for a second, "actually, scratch that, he is proving to be more useful than I thought, but it looks like we'll have to plan on the run."

"Well, well hello gorgeous, what's wrong not who you were expecting? No, I guess not, you were expecting that weak little emperor of yours weren't you. I told you earlier back in class remember? 'You're mine,' I meant it little girl of Fortune, you are going to be _mine _so come over here now I'd rather not hurt you." Raising a hand the teen caused a ring of darkness against a wall, dark blobs started to crawl out of it, a wail filled the air causing Arya's knees to buckle and fall her hands rushing up and covering her ears. Tears filled her eyes as she saw the boy walk towards her, she needed help, looking up with fear in her eyes she watched him lean down next to her a hand came down. A word came unbidden to her lips, a small word.

"Per-so-na." A single blue card glowed in the air in front of Arya, Fortunes Wheel turned on the front of the card, a pressure forced her to her feet forced her to take the card in both of her hands and bring it in towards her. As the card crumbled near her chest a light voice permeated the room, it was a kind voice light and laughing.

_I AM THOU… … THOU ARTE ME…_

…_THOU ARE THE ONE WHO WILL SOAR INTO TOMORROW…_

…_USE MY GIFTS TO CLEANSE YOUR WAY …_

…_I AM EUTYKHIA …_

The thing that appeared was beautiful; two sets of wings, one pitch black, and one snow white a set. They unfurled to reveal a beautiful body with pale skin, ebony hair and silver eyes a white slip covered the winged body. A firm flap of wings sent a gust of wind causing several shadows nearby to be pushed away. The boy stood his ground a smirk on his face the wind didn't even seem to faze him reaching out he crushed a dark purple red card in his hand.

"Cassius…" A figure in a Roman Praetor's garb appeared behind the armored kid. A regal wave of its hand sent a single ball of flame slamming straight into her persona's angelic form, as the ball hit and exploded her Persona withered in pain before dissipating back into the air.

"Help me… T…" Arya was about to finish when a nearby wall exploded. Another pair of explosions close by crushed several of those black things. Out of the first hole a single figure walked out and stared right at the armored kid a look of cold fire filled those emerald eyes.

"What are you doing here, the shadows were supposed to get to you by now?" Concern crept into the voice of the armored kid. Arya saw the boy walking towards her as well as two more one taller and one shorter fell in behind him. A smile touched on her lips and a single thought entered her mind before she passed out. 'Thank you, I knew you'd come…'

Tiberius looked at the wall in front of him; one more wall and he could save her, Bill and Jak were ready on their ends of the hall. The pressure that he now realized was Cannon's way of speaking to him was pushing him on. Forcing him to act, to protect, and to lead, inhaling and focusing Tiberius summoned Cannondier and had him cleave the wall, close by Vengeance and Painter also smashed through the wall. Tiberius suddenly felt tired, really, really tired. 'Nought warned me about the fatigue, drain he called it, oh well; have to force myself a little farther, got to get to her." Walking through the hole Tiberius forced his shoulders back and forced himself to look like nothing in the world fazed him. Walking up to the man in armor Tiberius growled at him, not finding the strength to speak. Luckily Jak and Bill showed up and flanked either side of Tiberius. Jak was the one to speak.

"You thought those little rink-a-dink shadows of yours would do anything to stop us? Bad form mate, bad form. You got Ti here so riled up that he can't even talk much less reason with you, and trust me you Don't want him to summon, that Cannondier of his is a big sucker who would be more than happy to put you in the hospital. Not to mention we could either have Vengance Hama your ass or Artist freeze you. So how about we do this, you leave here, NOW and we won't let Ti here get his hands on you." Jak and Bill went and grabbed Tiberius who took a menacing step forward, this bluff was insane, crazy even but if they could sell it then he would leave. Plus this gave the exhausted Tiberius something to lean against; in all honesty he had issues just keeping his face in a scowl he was so tired by this point.

"I-I'll be back for her, she's mine, she was promised to me." The idiot gave Tiberius the rage needed to finally form a sentence.

"Look here you little shit, if you ever touch her, look at her or even come within five feet of her ever again, you better know I'm dead because I will come after you, I will find you and I will kill you otherwise. You will leave that which is MINE, and she is not yours she is MINE, alone. If I hear even a whisper telling me otherwise, run, hide, it will not matter I. Will. KILL. YOU." As Tiberius started talking somehow he found the strength to move even with Jak and Bill holding him Tiberius approached the kid in leather. The closer he got the more nervous the other kid seemed. A sable door appeared behind the kid and a pair of right hands, one in a black glove and one in a white drug him through the opening. The Door disappeared without a trace. Feeling the pressure leave Tiberius turned towards Arya and took one step towards her falling to the ground one hand reaching her hair.

When Nought got to everyone he sighed Bill was standing guard over his friends while Jak was inexpertly cast Dia on his friends trying to heal them, Looking at everyone Nought smiled 'They're all right, they're all here. They were able to get to her in time.' Walking up to the group he bent down and lifted Tiberius over his shoulder. "Bill grab Arya, we're taking them back to the room." As they walked in silence Nought was surprised when Bill, not Jak was the first one to speak.

"That's them, they're the hunters aren't they…" Bill's voice was heavy with resignation. "We're lucky we got the surprise on the dude in leather. We were drained, there is no way we could have won if that guy attacked. We were completely worn out, and Tiberius was worse for wear then either of us. Don't get me wrong dude created some major damage to the other side and in the end he found the strength to seal the bluff. If the leather kid attacked we would have been in trouble wouldn't we?"

"Yeah…" Nought didn't want to think of what could have happened to his kids. They could have... 'Funny knowing them for less than twenty-four hours and I'm already starting to call them my kids.' "But don't worry Bill they just have more experience and I have a feeling that the kid you guys confronted is the weakest out of all of them…"

"Someone did promise that guy Arya, he believed that with all of his mind body and soul… disgusting." The look of anger clouded Bill's usually calm eyes. Remembering Bill's 'gift' Nought nodded his head.

"Yeah someone did. Someone who is strong enough to deliver on that promise if pushed into acting on his own. For the sake of the game and as a way to keep it fair he stays out until the last round, for now at least…" Nought opened the door with his free hand. Changing his world he created a set of cots to put the two fallen teens in. With a wave of his hand he reached underneath the desk and drew out two cans of soda as well as a decanter and a tumbler. Handing a can to each of the still standing teens he poured himself a small glass only two fingers from the decanter. Sitting he sighed and sipped his drink.

"Ok so you two have to have some questions. We'll do this an easy way. You both have one question to ask…"

"ARYA!" Tiberius shot straight up with a manic look in his eyes, calming quickly when he realized where he was he looked around desperately for a moment until he saw her laying on another cot nearby, moving too quickly for anyone to stop he stumbled down to her side. His hand reaching and grasping at hers, grabbing it he felt calm almost instantly. "Safe, she's safe…" he mumbled to himself almost jumping to his feet when Bill put a hand on his shoulder. Standing slowly Tiberius embraced Bill and looked around the room eyeing Jak and Nought staring at him. "She's safe."

"Ai mate, she's fine, you sold it to the blighter Ti. You got him hook line and sinker." Jak came over and knocked Tiberius on the forehead causing him to waver and fall in a chair near Arya's cot. Reaching over Ti moved the hair out of her face, her freckled nose scrunched up for a second and slowly her eyes opened.

"Hey St. Louie Boy…" A faint smile was on her lips as the faint words left her mouth.

"Next time…" Tiberius reached over and grabbed her hand for a brief moment giving it a tight squeeze. "I'll take the possibility of another hit if it means your safety, you girly are never leaving my sight again especially when ever we do whatever the Hell it is we are supposed to do…Speaking of which…" Turning to face Nought Tiberius tired, sore, and still drained looked for the first time all day to be in charge. "You Teacher need to start doing your job."

'Well he looks like he can lead and judging from how the others are around him they trust him to lead at this point, especially Jak… he was like that from the get go differing to Tiberius.' Nought sighed and looked Tiberius in the eye, one old leader to a new one.

"Alright kid since you seem to be in charge I guess you're going to ask the questions. So go on ask away."

Tiberius licked his top lip and thought for a second before opening his mouth, so many questions thinking back he remembered to the one that Jak brought up earlier. "Who are they? What do they want? And how are we involved?"

"Sigh…" 'You had to ask that one…' "Well kids you better get comfortable because to answer that question you are all going to need the back story which… well this'll take the rest of the night,' "…by the way class, for future reference ," Nought pulled his watch out of his pocket and checked the time. "We have what feels like twenty-four hours whenever we go questing. We have about ten hours left so you guys better get comfortable because this story is going to take a while. It all started my freshman year of collage at NYU, I just moved into a three man dorm with a pair of guys named Tom and Sam…"

**King: MEh sleep all weekend, this'll be fun, K.O.C do your magic… (Passes out on keyboard…) … *snort* Beta… rest… up… to you… **

**KaC: * Is watching Ghost in the Shell* Yeah, sure, get that done as soon as I can.**

**Attention Readers: You may have noticed that there is no cover for this story. This is largely because neither of us can draw. If anyone would be willing to create one for us we would be very grateful.**

**King: (In the middle of a nightmare) I Own… Nothing, no Atlus, don't sue… … … **


	5. Foundations of Life

**King: Think it's safe to go out there?**

**KaC: Where?**

**King: To the audience, we haven't updated in a while.**

**KaC: I'm sure they won't be too bad, it's not like your story is that popular anyway.**

**King: Well Fine I'll go out –Peaks head outside door-**

**KaC: Wait! Don't forget your vest!**

**King: Is that a Target painted on there?!**

**KaC: A bullet on your chest is a bullet not in your Skull!**

**King: … This is one of the most caring things you've ever done for me…**

**KaC: Oh and here's your ski mask. **

**King:… … … Let's just get on with the show, Beta do your bit…**

**KaC: Neither of us own the Persona Series. However, if you know someone at Atlus willing to sell it to us we are willing to pay up to 4 Cookies.**

**King: So… yeah part of the reason for this being so long is that I had issues writing the short summary from Nought's point of view. So that is postponed for now, it'll resurface later, but you'll be getting hints about what happened until we get there. So onto the summary of the last chapter, Our four young heroes can make big scary things come from their heads that can do magic stuff, Arya has a stalker and Nought just **

* * *

August 14th, 2012 House of Det. Tony Hauser (also Home of the Romano Orphans)

Tiberius awoke in his sparsely decorated room. Out of habit his eyes swept over a picture of his family, his sword, his laptop charging and a large bookshelf filled with War novels, Philosophical books and probably more than his fair share of manga. He was glad that their uncle Tony had let the girls kit their rooms out, he turned down his share and told Tony to put it into a set of funds for his sisters. He looked at his clock and looked at the time, 6 am. He had class in a little less than an hour. Getting to school wouldn't be a problem, as a detective his uncle held fairly normal hours… most of the time. Heading down stairs he heard his uncle singing opera as he made breakfast for the four of them. Taking his shower he ran his hands over where he had those near fatal wounds yesterday; part of him thought that there should be something there. He realized invisible wounds were inside his head, but the scalding hot water shocked them anyways. Stepping out of the shower he looked at the mirror flipping his black hair back as he dried it. His green eyes caught the light and shined yellow for a second; he paused and checked the mirror. After a second Tiberius shook his head and dismissed the image. Checking on his sleeping sisters, he smiled and opened their door. They were still asleep, since their day started an hour after his, but he snuck in and gave them both a kiss on the cheek. Amanda and Emilia. Both named after a great-grandmother. As he pulled away from Emilia, she stirred and grabbed her brother's large hand.

"Big Brother." She nuzzled the hand for a second before letting it go. He checked their alarm, set to go off in about thirty minutes.

"Love you too little sis." He got up and left the room. As he stepped past the mirror to the kitchen he checked himself over. He double checked the longer khaki shorts, making sure they were definitely shorter than man-pries. He rolled up the sleeves of the purple button down he was wearing over one of his favorite black workout tees, he was supposed to lift today with Jak, Bill and… Crap what was Bill's friend's name again? The Ironman?…. Tiberius shook the thought from his head. As he turned away from the mirror he thought he caught a glimpse of something resting just out of his sight; it looked like Cannondier…. strange. Making his way to the kitchen, he made sure everything was in his bag. He had about twenty minutes before he had to leave, so he poured himself a cup of coffee and grabbed a couple pieces of French toast. He put his plate down across from his uncle, noticing the silver edges of the thick black hair that had recently begun to appear on the middle aged gentleman.

"Morning, Tiberius. You were out late last night, who with?" his uncles curious voice matched his eyes. His uncle was not accusing him; his uncle knew the city didn't have the problems someone Tiberius's age needed to worry about. As one of the senior detectives Tony Hauser knew most of the crimes that happened around the city, and that his baby sister's eldest son was a good kid; he wouldn't get involved with anything stupid.

"Hung out with some new friends, lot of out of towners like me. We kind of got shoved together in our first hour and kept running into each other; well, there was also Bill Prior he got shoved with the new kids. He kind of turned into our local knowledge guy, kept teaching us the ins and outs. He showed us around town last night." The story was believable; the three new kids in a small Colorado town were bound to get together.

"Nice kid, good family, his middle brother is one of the big churchmen around town, gives a good sermon, that is if you want to go with me on Sunday?" Tony sounded hopeful, he was a god fearing Catholic like his sister and her husband, Tony watched Tiberius think it over before nodding his head.

"Yeah, I'd like that… a lot… Well I gotta get going. Thanks for the French toast… it tasted like moms…" Tony watched his young nephew leave as soon as his nieces' alarms went off. The kid was going to be fine; he had Hauser blood after all. The Hauser's didn't make weak men.

* * *

House of the Chase Family

Jak was already up and moving when his 6 am alarm went off. He had already been up for hours. He was going over the story that Naught had told the four of them after their personas had been forced to appear. Jak had spent the last few hours working on his heavy bag, which was almost taller than he was and weighed about the same. It was another reminder that he was small, but he was also damned fast. The impacts on the bag resonated around his sound proofed room; his mom had finally insisted on it after she grew tired of the heavy rap and screamo blasting through the house. Bill might be their close range fighter, but Jak wanted to make sure he could hold his own without guns. Once Jak couldn't keep up the routine, he went over to his computer. Unwrapping his hands and wiping off the sweat with his towel, he sat down in his executive chair and swiveled to the screens. He glanced at each of the four monitors, each running off of a different custom build locked under the desk. When he sat down he accidentally kicked the heat sink running straight through the wall of his basement room and into the ground outside. One of the machines had been organizing every bit of information it could find on "persona" "Princess Hunt" and "Princess Guards." He checked its progress and saw it had only made it through half of the data it gathered; he decided to let it run while he was at school and check back on it after he got home from the work out with Bill, Ben and Tiberius. He turned his head to the next monitor, currently showing one of his favorite Chat rooms. He smiled when he saw one of his favorite usernames pop up and began to type.

SUPERAUS: Hey S+ lk3r!

S+ lk3r: Hey yourself Aus, where you been? I thought you forgot about poor little me :3

SUPERAUS: I am insulted at your accusations my dear, I merely decided that I should move my base of operations to prevent discovery.

S+ lk3r: Youre in Colorado. I pinged your IP again, you really need to beef up your security dude :/

SUPERAUS: …Ooooor…I am just no match for your L337 haxor skilz

S+ lk3r: Riiiight. Well you should get to school my favorite Aussie, shoo shoo.

Jak looked up at the wall behind him and cursed. He quickly checked that his stocks weren't crashing and that his file sharing sites were running smoothly. He grabbed some of the baggy clothing that wore to hide his physique and ran to the shower right past his mother, who made a kissing noise which he quickly returned.

"Toast is on the Table Jaky. I've got to head to the hospital early, have a good day." His mother's voice filled the hall of their larger than necessary home.

"Thanks Mom, have a good day love you." The doors slammed at the same time. The Chase family led a hectic life, but it was a good one.

(Insert Line break)

Home of the Wingfield's

"Arya! Arya dearest it's time to get up…" her mother's voice whispered into the room. The lights were all off, but Arya hadn't slept. She didn't think she'd be able to sleep again for days after last night. She couldn't get the image out of her head. At least the boys got there in time. She tried to focus on Tiberius, hoping that thinking about the boy would keep the darkness away like it had last night, but it was only temporary. If she wanted to get past the memory, she had to get stronger. She had to make it so that she wasn't the one who needed to be protected, that she could save them instead. She strengthened her resolve and forced herself out of bed.

"I'm up, Mum." Her voice was artificially cheery but her mom didn't notice. She heard her mother return downstairs and got in the shower. As the water ran over her she planned out her day. She went back into her room and turned on the weather channel. It was going to rain later. She grabbed her umbrella and checked herself in the mirror. She nodded in approval at the short skirt she wore. It went well with her leggings and cream colored blouse. She went down the steps and paused to listen to her dad practicing a new arrangement on the piano. She quietly went through the room as he accelerated the piece into a crescendo. She leaned over and kissed his cheek before heading into the kitchen to grab breakfast. She smiled at her brother playing with the dog. The large lab had laid his head on the boys lap while wagging his tail. She ruffled her baby brother's red hair before grabbing a yogurt from the fridge. She had just started eating it when her mom walked in.

"How was your day yesterday, Love?" her mother asked while she moved her brother into his high chair. She sat at the island and paused as her husband stopped playing and muttered to himself while scratching out something on his sheet.

"Long. I made friends with a few boys who were in most of my classes. One of them ended up showing us around town last night."

"Nice Chaps?"

"Chaps? Arya, who are these chaps I'm going to chase off with a shovel?" Her father walked into the room and grabbed some toast off a plate her mother had made for him. The thin man had a bit of a rolling walk that betrayed his years as a member of Her Majesty's Royal Marines. He was a musician now, but the slightest mention of boys near his daughter made him look like Major John Patrick Wingfield again.

"No one Daddy, just some nice blokes who were kind to me. They were in my homeroom and ended up showing me around." Arya hoped that this wouldn't end up like the last time she had male friends. She had invited them over to meet her parents, just to remind them that there were some boys who meant her no harm, and what they see? Her father sitting in the den with a disassembled shotgun that he reassembled in front of them and dry fired. Two of the boys ran scared, the third tried to start a conversation about the gun, but left when her father showed the poor boy his uniform, his Sniper pin polished and in plain view.

"Showing you what?" Her father had dropped the curious tone and she could see him placing the boys into enemy territory already.

"Nothing Daddy, they were kind and helpful, every part a gentleman." She quickly tried to end the conversation. When he opened his mouth again she quickly turned on a heel, a side benefit of her favorite pair of Converse, and kissed her brother on the cheek. She hugged her mum and went out the door, grabbing her bag. She had to leave anyway but it helped make a point.

"Why did she do that Love?" John Wingfield turned to his wife with a curious eye.

"Simple Dear, she was done with the conversation. You weren't making it easy on her you know. She needs some good blokes to hang around with, and she feels safe enough around them to tell us. Which means that you are not going to use your guns or uniform to scare these boys off, John. There will be problems if you do."

"Oh?" The man turned to his wife whose flaming red hair matched the son she just picked up.

"Yes, if you scare these boys away and I find out, you will become quite familiar with that couch in the front room." she turned and left with the laughing boy in her arms.

"Damn…"

* * *

Prior Household

"WAKE UP BILL YOU HAVE SCHOOL!" The Rich Baritone voice piercing the walls of Bill's quiet room was quickly followed by an opening door and something being tossed into his bed. He rolled over to fall back asleep when he felt something cold on his back. Son of a… Dammit Charles. He grabbed the can of cola and popped the top, quickly drinking it down as he checked his clock, 6 am. He nodded his head and turned off his alarm before hopping in the shower. He ran a hand through his blond hair, wondering if he should cut it, as he turned and saw his cat, Mittens. The cat looked back, shifted its weight as if to roll its shoulders, and went back to its food. Probably not then. He threw on jeans and a short sleeve shirt, making sure he had his gear in his bag for the workout with Benny. The two newbies could make it interesting. Making his way down stairs, Bill grabbed his cereal bowl and began to pour his milk when his brother walked in. There was no doubt in their relation. One glance showed the same dark blonde hair and grey eyes, the same large build, the same subtly cocky smirk. One of the few noticeable differences was the white collar around Charles Prior's neck. He was in town visiting and had agreed to host mass on Sunday. The older brother grabbed his own bowl before joining him at the table. The Prior household was always quiet in the morning. The brothers ate their food and Bill poured a cup of coffee and held it in front of him... three... two... one...

"Morning Boys!" Their mother entered the room, with messy hair and her husband's bath robe on. The brothers smirked at each other as the short, happily plump woman grabbed the coffee from her son's hands and sipped it. "Charles, it's good to see you home, and Willy, remember that your father's coming home on Thursday." The woman turned away and walked off with her coffee as Bill grabbed his bag and headed out to his truck. Time to get to class.

* * *

August 14th, 2012, Hamilton High.

The 35 year old woman in the front of the class had to have been really beautiful at some point. She was still attractive, ask any member of the student body who were the top five hottest teachers and Ms. Jera from the English department would have been on every boy's list, and several of the girls'. She looked around her new class and decided to pick this year's victim. True, it was the only the second day of class but most people neglected the reading. Oh look a Jock, that is always fun. Checking her roster she found the picture of the boy.

"Mr. Prior." the boy in question blinked for a second before standing.

"Ma'am?"

"Have you decided the reading you were going to be doing for the semester?" She looked at the Jock and waited for his stuttering answer. They were all the same after all, one good game and their studying dropped to zero. And she so enjoyed making them examples.

"Yes I have, ma'am. I decided to focus on the fiction aspect of the class that you offered for those of us who are after a challenge." Jera's face dropped at the student's answer. She noticed that the three other students near him were all smirking and that Mr. Priors the two boys near Mr. Priors had prepared high fives before he spoke.

"Really Mr. Prior and what will you be reading?"

"Oh, that's easy, The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher." Bill felt more confident in himself watching the teacher stand there looking like a fish. The, the weirdest feeling washed over him. The world grew sharper and his mind clearer. It was almost like he had grown more intelligent instantaneously. He sat down and Tiberius knocked his shoulder. Today was going to be a good day.

* * *

End of Day (Home Room)

"…And remember, you have to pick your after school activities by the end of the week. Remember, each student is required to join one physical and one academic club. Also, I need to see the students of Table 1 after class." Dr. Nought shuffled the papers on his desk around as most of the students left. He patiently helped a male student with a quick scheduling issue before turning to the four students who had placed themselves in the seating arrangement they had been assigned yesterday. Funny, he hadn't notice until now that there was just enough space between Jak and Bill for a fifth person to fit in.

"Alright, you all know my story now and we can discuss it later if you wish, but first you need to know that we can't go under every night." Reaching behind his counter, Nought drew out four bottles, tossing one to each of them. "These pills are designed to draw you into the Dreamer's Realm. Whatever you do, do not take more than one pill or mix your pills up. We aren't sure what could happen. From here on out it's up to you four. You have the basics down and I can't help you figure anything else out. From now on I will serve in a purely support position. I can examine shadows and help you navigate, that's it. Unfortunately, all we can do for now is play the waiting game until the other side makes the first move."

"That all Doc?" Tiberius said as Arya leaned back into him. "'Cause otherwise, Bill, Jak and I have to get down to the weight room. We're supposed to meet someone down there."

"Just be careful. You can't know who's working for the Hunters, and you need to start searching for your social links as soon as you can. Now skedaddle, I have a job to do and you guys have a schedule to keep."

As the four left the room, Arya slipped something into Tiberius' hand before waving goodbye and heading into the library. Tiberius looked at the note and slipped it into his wallet. There, another piece of paper looked at him; he checked the time, a little after 2:15. He could do a quick workout and make it to Hayes' by 4. He threw an arm over both of his friends and the trio made their way down to the gym and a waiting Ben Dryer.

* * *

Hamilton High Library

Arya began to search for any information that could help her new friends. As she approached the psychology section, she spotted another senior from one of her classes. In fact, the girl shared most of their classes. She was attractive, in a bookish sort of way, but then again, Arya was never really good at judging other girls' attractiveness. The other girl had large circular glasses that had slid down to the tip of her nose. Her strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a simple braid but a couple strands had broken free at some point. She was thin but not unpleasantly so. She was also lost in her own world. The girl was swaying and humming as she walked. A small bump in the floor sent the girl sprawling to the floor and Arya watched as the large books in the girls arms landed on top of her. Arya darted forward and quickly began to lift the books off of the girl.

The girl rose to her knees and attempted to force out a sentence. "Oh… Thank you, I'm sorry… I'm a bit of a klutz sometimes… you're the new girl right? Arya? Thanks for the help." Arya helped the girl to her feet and watched as she dusted herself off and reached for the fallen books. Including one that Arya was had been searching for.

"You're interested in Tarot?" Arya tried to make the question seem nonchalant.

"Oh, this?" The girl looked down and shook her head lightly, causing a few more strands to pop loose from the braid. Arya focused on the tip of the braid… the wild way it flew about looked like it could hurt someone standing in the wrong place. "Not at all. I'm an aide here in the library and I needed to reshelf these books. My name is Sarah, I'm pleased to meet you officially, without your boyfriend around. He kind of scares me..."

"Boyfriend? Who are you talking about? I don't have a boyfriend…" Arya looked at the blonde with a look of slight confusion.

"What about the boy you hang out with? The one who always sits next to you? Black hair, green eyes, tanned skin, like an old Roman God. You know, the one who never let you out of his sight during classes?"

"Tiberius?"

"Yeah that's the one, Tiberius. Name even sounds Roman."

"NO! No no no, you misunderstand!" Each world came out faster and louder than the last. Arya quickly tried to explain herself. "Another kid was giving me issues yesterday, so Tiberius was making sure no one was messing with me today. We are friends, not a couple."

"Sure hun, keep telling yourself that. By the way, why'd you ask about the Tarot book! Were you looking for it?" Sarah offered the book out to Aria who took it with a smile.

"Yeah, always been a hobby of mine."

"Cool, well I'll see you around."

"You too Sarah," Arya waved goodbye and went to the front desk to check out the book. Seeing the clear sky out the window, Arya decided to take the book out to the park. Apparently American weatherman just weren't as accurate as the ones back in London.

* * *

Weight room

Hard rap blared through the speakers, failing to cover up the clinking metal and loud laughter resonating in the room. Ben had just lost a couple twenties to Tiberius. Taking the money, Tiberius looked to see Jak pumping out sets that easily outmatched the skinny boy's weight. Folding up the twenties into his wallet, he glanced at the large clock on the wall. He shook Ben's hand and called out to Bill and Jak that he'd talk to them later. He had just enough time to take a quick shower and catch the bus to the address in his wallet.

Jak saw Tiberius leave and racked the bar. Standing, he used the towel nearby to whip his face off. He looked over at Bill by the Squats rack. Tiberius counted the plates… 1,2,3,4,5,… five plates each side at 45 lbs. a piece… No wonder the big guy could move. Bill stopped and racked his bar. Jak was about to head over to his friend when he felt his phone buzz with a text. He didn't recognize the number. He flipped open the phone and checked the message. {Aussie, its S78lk3r. Get online ASAP. I need your help. Please hurry.}

Jak started to worry. S78lk3r didn't say please and the lack of an emoticon at the end was far from normal. Jak ran out of the gym past Tiberius, who was just leaving the locker room. God, please don't let that stupid woman have done an actual Job without letting him know. He threw everything into his bag and passed Tiberius again on his way out of the locker room. He sprinted past a group of girls but didn't notice them staring,or the girl who looked up from her phone at the sprinting boy. 'What is a guy that ripped doing here?' the hive mind thought.

Back in the Weight room Benny looked over at Bill.

"Dude, your new friends are freaks." Ben shook his head as he put the 45 lb dumb bells back and pointed towards the cardio room. Bill nodded his head and took a drink from his sports bottle. Ben accepted his friends silence, used to the one sided conversations.

"Of course, I suppose you always manage to attract freaky strays, don't you?" Ben caught the towel Bill passed to him without looking. Bill walked by whistling a tune and raised a questioning eyebrow at his friend.

"Dude, I'm black and living in Colorado. That alone puts me at like a 7 on the freaky scale. I mean seriously, besides me, how many black people do you know in this town! my sister and mother don't count." Bill just shrugged and hopped on a treadmill. Ben chuckled and climbed onto the bike. After they finished, Ben finally spoke.

"Food?"

"And lo the mighty one deems me worthy to hear his holy voice!" This time Ben didn't see the towel coming before it wrapped itself around his head. After checking the clock, he nodded. "Yeah let's go get some grub, usual spot?"

"Duh."

"It speaks again! What mighty deed hast I ach… Waugh!" Bill grew tired of his friends antics and easily lifted Ben over his head. "Put the black man down, Bill. You know I don't like leaving the ground… Bro seriously… Drop the black man." Ben landed with a thud, but as usual it was worth it. After cleaning up the two hopped in Bill's truck and headed to Simon's. Screw the chains, nobody in High Peak could make a burger even close to Simon's level. As they pulled up to the restaurant they bowed their head in respect to the Wall of Men. Exactly three people had beaten the Monster Burger Challenge, everyone else had wept at the sixty dollar bill that came with it.

* * *

Chase Home

Jak made it home in record time, he had pushed his Camaro well past every speed limit. Making it home in minutes, he ran down to his "lair" as his mother calls it and jumped into his chair, halting his spin at the central monitor. He threw on his headset and a couple keystrokes later his modulator was up and running.

"Stalker, hey come on girl you there or what?"

"Aus what took you so long?" Jak almost started to laugh in relief when she answered him, her modulator was acting up again but even that was a relief.

"Mod your voice, dearest." Jak took out a thing of orange crush from the mini-fridge built into his desk. Popping it open he heard laughter from her end, good her mod was working now.

"Feeding your habit are we?" the voice was older now, thicker and richer. Smiling Jak nodded his head even though no one could see him.

"So what was with the fire call you gave me? I do have a life outside the net you know." Jak's voice was falsely serious and obviously so; his modulator was notorious for making anything he said sound deadly serious.

"Sure you do Aus, and then you'll tell me you were at the gym working out with the Jocks." The other end laughed for a second before calming back down. "We got a hit on the site." That perked his interest, checking up at his stocks Jak crunched some numbers in his head, he had a lot of funds to fall back on if need be. In all honesty, he didn't even need college at this point. Oh he was going, but he already made more in a year than most of the upper 50% of America. And no one knew, thanks to the maze of investments and corporations he had set up to buy his stocks. He was careful, he never invested too much money at once, everything was shady but… mostly legal.

"What's the job Stalker?"

"Ever want to hack into the DOD?"

"… This is legit right?" Jak heard silence...

* * *

Tiberius stepped off the bus and looked around. The address he had been given was close. Turning around again he felt something, a pressure, pushing him east. Following it, he found the street he was looking for. It didn't take long to find the address, a decent sized ranch style home. Walking up to the door Tiberius knocked lightly. The shop owner from last night opened the door and motioned for him to follow. The inside of the house looked like a museum of world history.

"This place is so cool!" Tiberius couldn't help himself. He saw an Aztec statuette next to a set of matched wazakashi from Japan. Tribal masks were everywhere, so many masks… Tiberius was drawn to one of them, a smaller mask; it had intricate markings along the rim with plain gold rimming the eyes. The closer he got the more he felt a draw to it.

"That's Xango, the fourth King of Yarboro. He is a powerful god and a great warrior, but who are you?" The voice was a deep bass that resonated around the room. Turning, Tiberius saw the owner rising from a chair. The old man's silver hair had been cut short on the sides, but he had left it longer on top. The hair had been slicked back. Coupled with the suit, it made him look like an old butler. The man walked with a cane that was identical to his grandson's.

"My name is Tiberius. I'm here to request your guidance in the art of the sword…" Before he could finish, the man seemed to fall forward. Tiberius moved to catch him but instead felt a pressure against his throat. Looking down slightly, he saw two feet of folded Damascus steel pressed against his throat. Following the blade, Tiberius looked into the cold gunmetal gray eyes of the old man…

* * *

Arya smiled at the clear sky as she sat on a park bench and opened the book. Her heart nearly burst when saw the center of the pages had been cut out. She reached into the hole and pulled out a deck of Tarot cards. Beneath them she found a note.

"You'll be needing these later." No name. The writing was fluid but simple. Tearing her eyes away from the note she examined the cards. The deck was complete but the cards felt…empty and none appeared to have any color. Then she pulled out the fool and felt more than saw the color, light, faded but there. She flipped past the Major Arcana and into the minor. These were beautiful, full of color and contrast. Slipping the deck into her pocket she closed the book. Intrigued by the new discovery she slipped the book into her bag and stood up. Before she could leave, she heard a sniffle. Her older sister instincts immediately kicked in and she honed in on the sound. She peaked into the bright yellow tube slide to find a young boy sitting down.

"Are you ok?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Arya, and I'm here to help you…"

(Insert Line)

**So I hope to get this back up and updating on a regular basis again, I am sorry that this had taken so long, I'm in collage and I got backed up. So … Please read and review, again I don't hold the story hostage, but in order for me to improve I need to get reviews, so hope you enjoy and if so shoot me a message, drop a review, I would love to hear from you guys.**


	6. Cast off onto the Sea of Souls

**King: Well here's your next chapter to read, as usual I own Nothing (but that offer for four cookies is now negotiable) besides my beat up laptop, my characters that are about to be thrown into the deep end, and this plot that is just getting started. I can thank KingandCommoner for being the usual help, he just left our home town to head back to school lets use this *Uncovers a crystal ball* to try and communicate with him. **

**-Blurry image clears to reveal KaC on his Computer-**

**King: Are you playing Mario 64 with a PlayStation controller?**

**KaC: Uhhh... no?**

**King: I'm ashamed to know you.**

**KaC: You're just jealous.**

**King: …And now on with the show… -Shudders-**

* * *

_Simon's Diner, Tuesday August 14__th__, 4:40 pm_

Ben and Bill pushed away their now clean plates toward the back of the ten person bar. They both leaned back in a meat-induced haze as Hotel California drifted through the diner. Bill reached for a napkin and wiped away the remains of the double with cheese from around his mouth. Both athletes stared longingly at the Wall of Men; neither of them felt ready to take on the Monster, they could barely finish the quarter-pounder burgers they had just ordered, but they still hoped to one day devour the massive burger. The two sipped on their drinks, Bill with an Arnold Palmer and Ben with a PowerAde, and slouched onto the bar. Ben was, as usual, carrying the conversation.

"It's just too much sometimes, you know. We work our asses off to stay in shape for the games and then we have to go home and study for hours if we even want a chance to pass." Ben finished his PowerAde and waved at Betty, the sixty-five year old server and town gossip, and Simon himself who was in the back making patties and keeping an eye on his ingredients. It was about 4:30 at that point, and the boys were they only customers in the diner. The dinner rush wouldn't start until five and then the only seats available would be outside on the curb until closing time at seven, at least on weeknights. Simon had kept the place open since before the two teenagers were born, and he was already grooming a successor for when he retired, a twenty-one year old drifter who had wandered into town a year ago.

Bill nodded his head lightly agreeing with Ben as Betty put their drinks back down. It was a strain being a student athlete who actually cared about the student part. Neither of them were slackers, he was taking every honors class there was and Ben wasn't too far short of that. Ben, used the near silent answers of his friend, smiled and nodded back.

"Right, we aren't even breezing through the easy classes like most of their teammates. Take Big Paul, the kid may be a genius with engines and have a job lined up at his family's shop, but he's in all the remedial classes. The lucky bastard doesn't even have to worry about college. But us, we have to keep our grades up and pray we get scholarships. I'm not sure if I could afford college without them. I mean there's the money my dad left us but I'd rather let my siblings use that." Bill took a deep breath. Ben had officially dropped into another depressing rant. He understood though; Ben's family was never struggling, but they hadn't had the easiest time since his father died overseas on a humanitarian mission. Bill shuddered to think what would happen if Ben's older brother Tobias, who both boys looked up to, did not come home. As if reading his mind, Ben moved on. "I got a message from Tobi by the way. He says hi and wants us to take the Hamilton Patriots go for the title again this year. He wants to make sure you'll be there for dinner when he's on leave next month."

"I'd like that." For the first time since entering the place Bill spoke, his Baritone voice clean and rich as always. The boys drained their drinks and set a ten on the counter each, more than enough to cover the bill since the diner always deserved a good tip. Bill patted Ben on the back and nearly fell off his seat when time seemed to slow around him. The natural light from the windows dimmed as the image of one of Igor's Tarot Cards appeared before him. He sighed in relief as the calming layers of voices he had heard in the Emporium filled the room.

"_We are Thou… … Thou art We… …_

_The Humorous Fool hast Established a new Bond … …_

_It Brings Thee closer to Rescuing the Princess… …_

_May Thou be blessed when _

_Creating Persona of the Chariot Arcana…"_

* * *

_The Lair of Jak Chase, 5:30 pm_

"The DoD, wants to hire us as outside consultants to test their new fire walls?" Jak's voice held a bit of disbelief in it as he spoke through the mic. He had heard stalker's story three times now. She was their business's link to the customers and regularly spent hours monitoring their website's request page. S78lk3r was a genius when it came to almost any form of technology. The one thing she couldn't pull off was a true hard core hacking. That was his job. The two had never met in person, but they were a legendary team on the net.

"Yes, we had a hit off of the official page and I've back tracked it to the Federal Building in Boulder. This offer is legit." The voice over the mic was starting to get frustrated at him, best to head that off now.

"I believe you hun, you just have to understand this is not our normal gig. We're supposed to be working for paranoid companies with more cash then brains. Are we even equipped to do this job?" Jak pushed himself back slightly and hit the release on his chair and brought his feet up to rest on his desk. He was happy that the girl was safe. "Was the fire call really necessary for this conversation though?"

"Eh… hehehe," Jak sighed at the woman's nervous chuckle, that'd be a no then. "Well not really, I was kinds bored…"

"Stalker you do realize that I'm not a toy right?" Jak hit a few keystrokes changing the location of their chat and dropping his modulator, a sign between the two that this was personal and not business. He made sure that his light tenor carrying over a serious though caring message to the girl on the other end of the line. He did care for the girl; he even had a bit of a cyber crush on her. Smart and funny, she often was a great companion. Every once in a while though…

"I understand Aus, I do, and I'm sorry what we're you doing when I sent the text anyways?"

"Believe it or not you know your joke earlier? About working out with the Jocks?" It was now Jak's turn to laugh a bit.

"Huh? You…. You were working out with Jocks… Do… do you go to Hamilton?" He could almost hear the blush on the girls voice, she sounded almost bashful.

"How'd you know that?" Jak blinked repeatedly at her question, how the hell could she know that?

"It… it doesn't matter Aus," S78lk3r's voice returned to normal as the two of them traded jokes. Jak took out one of his instant ramen cups, his mom had told him she'd be busy for the night, the hospital was keeping her over a new case. She probably wouldn't be home much for the next few days.

"Well hun as much as I love our time, I have work I need to get done." Jak felt time slow as he moved to click the exit screen. A voice, a layer of voices actually, spoke, the phrasing familiar.

"_We are Thou… … Thou are We… …_

_The Wise Fool hast Established a new Bond … …_

_It Brings Thee closer to Rescuing the Princess… …_

_May Thou be blessed when _

_Creating Persona of the Hermit Arcana…"_

* * *

_Home of Alfred Vincent Hayes Senior, 6:00 pm_

"Come on boy. I thought that you wanted to learn how to use a blade." The old man's harsh voice came with the feeling of contact with Tiberius' shoulder. The boken might have been blunted but it still hurt like hell when it hit. Tiberius had never been so discouraged in his life; he hadn't done a single thing right. The old man started to cough; after a moment the old man raised his hand. "That's enough for today boy." The eyes that looked at Tiberius were different from the gunmetal grey eyes he remembered from when he first came in.

Those eyes, Tiberius wanted that glare, that look of pure calculating power. Tiberius didn't even flinch when the blade was against his throat he stared into the eyes of the old man and could tell at one point this man was someone to truly fear. Alfred the third stepped in at the last minute and reminded his grandfather why Tiberius was here. From there Tiberius was lead to the backyard to a large shed. Following the old man inside, Tiberius saw blades of all kinds. There were even some combat axes. Each weapon hung above its wooden replica, serving as a constant reminder of the purpose of training with them. Tiberius spent the next few hours going through a hellish training routine. From warm-up to cool down, every single exercise was gone over and refined time and time again until he did them just so. Bowing to the older man, Tiberius saw the younger Hayes motion for him to wait out front. Soon he was joined by the slightly older man outside. Hayes motioned for Tiberius to follow him. They both got into the small mini-cooper that Alfred drove.

"You are doing surprisingly well." Alfred started to drive away from his grandfather's home towards the store. He looked out of the corner of his eye to see Tiberius do a double take and see his mouth fall open. "You have a natural talent, Tiberius, and don't be discouraged by what you think happened today. All you're looking at is how far you have left to travel, you don't realize how far along you already are. You are doing just fine, better than most, the fact that you evened made it past stretching is amazing. Most spend their first two weeks doing nothing but learning the basics."

"I have so far to go though…" Tiberius looked out the window of the Cooper remembering helplessness when his Fortune was nearly taken away form him. Unbeknownst to Tiberius, Alfred felt the immense rush of killing intent that was rolling off of the boy in his passenger's seat. Alfred let the silence hang for a little bit before he spoke again.

"You will improve Tiberius, but it will take time. You already said that you're willing to die to protect those you care for, and I know you meant it." The young shop owner pulled the car into the parking lot of the Emporium. He killed the engine and got out, a confused Tiberius following.

"Ummm, Hayes what are we doing here?" Tiberius asked the man as he opened the lock on the shop and made his way in after Alfred who flipped on the lights. Tiberius watched and followed Alfred down the line to where the swords were. Alfred stopped and turned to Tiberius a dangerous gleam in his eye.

"What do you see when you look down these isles?" Alfred's gaze wasn't hard or cold but it was probing. His grey eyes reminded Tiberius of a thunderstorm ready to be pushed over the age. Tiberius looked around him at the different weapons from all around the world. Each one was unique.

"I see tools that can help me protect what's…" Tiberius didn't even see the back of Alfred's gloved hand until it smacked the back of his head. He looked into the man's eyes, now the same gunmetal grey his grandfather had shown him earlier.

"WRONG," the voice that answered him was full of emotions, hard but not angry. "Those weapons aren't tools; they are opportunities, different paths that teach different lessons. If you really want to follow the path you have chosen, you have to learn to listen to the blades. Stay here and see what you can hear, I'll be right back." Alfred walked off as Tiberius looked at the blades around him. He saw so many different styles that he didn't even know where to even begin. After a moment he wandered over to a Calvary Saber. Tiberius took a moment to examine the sword. How could such a simple blade teach him anything? What was a Calvary saber used for? Easy. The curve of the blade allowed for a cut to come out cleanly while moving at the high speeds of horseback. It also made sure that a rider wouldn't get it caught in his enemies when he stabbed them. What was the lesson in that history? Was the blade reminding him that a blade that comes out clean and quick can be used at a moment's notice?

"What are you trying to tell me…?" Tiberius looked at the mirror shined blade and black scabbard trying to decipher the lesson it could hold. "Should I be lighter on my feet, should my movements be smoother, what is it you are trying to tell me…?"

"Learn anything?" Tiberius jumped at the return of Alfred. Turning around Tiberius saw that the man had a tray with him, moving his hand to follow Alfred led the way to an old furniture section. He set the tray on a coffee table near a pair of comfortable looking chairs. On the tray was a plate of ham and Swiss sandwiches and a pair of cups with an old teapot. Pouring the tea a release of the smell of good green tea filled the air. Alfred put the pot down and took his own cup and one of the several sandwich portions. Taking a bite and then a sip Alfred turned his calm grey eyes to Tiberius. "So did the Calvary Saber teach you anything Tiberius?"

"…I… I think it did actually…" Tiberius took his own cup and a sandwich portion, taking a bite he tasted a bit of horseradish mustard that was perfectly spread on the bread. "I think that it was trying to remind me to stay loose on the field, that… that if you go only for power you'll lose your weapon if things start moving quickly…" taking a sip of the perfectly steeped tea Tiberius looked over at Alfred who had a smile on his face.

"You, Tiberius, are a very special kid, and you're not far off from the truth. Even better you learned most of the lesson without ever drawing or even picking up the blade." Alfred finished his sandwich portion and grabbed another. He then began to tell stories about his grandfather; he was once an archeologist that was funded by Colorado University and then retired to open this shop. Then his son followed in his footsteps and travelled the world looking for new treasures to buy and sell for the shop. As Alfred was winding down Tiberius saw the lights dim as time seemed to slow down. A card from Igor's Tarot deck, bearing the unmistakable blue and black motif, appeared before his head. Tiberius took a breath and listened to the layered voices:

"_We are Thou… … Thou are We… …_

_The Courageous Fool hast Established a new Bond … …_

_It Brings Thee closer to Rescuing the Princess… …_

_May Thou be blessed when _

_Creating Persona of the Strength Arcana…"_

* * *

_High Peak Park, 4:30_

Arya was happy that she got the boy out from in the slide; the boy couldn't be more than a couple years older than her own little brother. She was able to get him to at least tell her his name, Teddie. He was hiding from going home. The little boy had a large vocabulary.

"Arya, what does the word whore mean…" He turned back to Arya looking at her with his amber eyes peaking through his straight, shaggy, golden hair. Arya stopped pushing him on the sing when he asked his question.

"Teddie, where'd you here that word?" Arya was concerned, at tops Teddie might age to be 8 years old, in all honesty she'd be surprised if he was more then 6. The boy hopped off the swing set landing gracefully he turned to look at Arya and his eyes went hard.

"TEDDIE… TEDDIE WHERE ARE YOU?" a female voice called out in the park, turning Arya felt Teddie cling to her back. A woman in business wear was looking around; she was pretty and had to be near her middle/late twenties. She was calling out with a concern filled voice. "TEDDIE, PLEASE COME ON WE'RE WORREID ABOUT YOU, CAN YOU COME OUT WE NEED TO GET HOME, YOUR FATHER WILL BE THERE SOON!" The woman seemed to finally see Arya and made her way over to her, she was pretty with red hair and green eyes. "Excuse me have you seen… TEDDIE!" The woman caught a glimpse of the boy behind Arya. "There you are… I've been so worried about you…"

"Yeah sure you have…" Teddie ran past the woman to the parks exit to the only car there a white SUV. The woman turned to watch him go past, she then turned back to Arya, a sad look on her face.

"Thank you for watching over him, I'm Helen Saffron," the woman extended a hand to Arya the two shook hands before she continued. "Teddie has been a bit unstable since his mother took off about three years ago; I'm his father's secretary. The boy doesn't like older girls for the most part, but thank you for watching over him when I couldn't find him… Your new in town, don't tell me you're Arya Wingfeild?"

"Right, and he's a sweet boy, he was asking me a question that you might be interested in hearing," Helen's head cocked to the side a little as Arya continued leaning a little closer. "Somewhere recently he heard the word whore, he asked me what it meant, luckily, you came by before I had to answer him."

"I am so sorry… I think I know where he heard that, if you'd excuse me I think that I have a very unhappy little boy to try to cheer up." As Arya raised her hand to wave even the sun seemed to dim as time slowed down for her, she heard what sounded like a layer of voices as a tarot card, one of Igor's by the design, appeared before her , the card flipped over to show a five pointed star with a kind face on it.

"_We are Thou… … Thou are We… …_

_The Fool of Fortune hast Established a new Bond … …_

_It Brings Thee closer to Rescuing the Princess… …_

_May Thou be blessed when _

_Creating Persona of the Star Arcana…"_

Arya reached into her pocket after making sure that Teddie and Helen made it out ok, she flipped through the cards, some of them had more color now… Strength, a picture of a beautiful woman calming a savage beast, The Chariot, an Egyptian warrior on a chariot pulled by a pair of sphinx, The Hermit, an old man with a crazy look in his eyes that held something in his left hand while the right grasped a large staff. They weren't as vibrant as the minor Arcana but they looked like that they could become even more stunning then the Minors.

* * *

_Apartment of Jeremiah Nought, 11:00 pm_

The school teacher sat in his apartment an open bottle of American Honey on his coffee table, the sipping glass next to it half full for the umpteenth time. The tall man sat on his couch, staring at a single photo in a simple frame. It was one of the few pictures left of him, Tom and Sam… the three of them in a rather stupid pose, himself in the middle, an arm around the shoulder of his two friends. A single tear escaped his eye, landing on the glass covering the picture, the tear landed and spread over the younger, smiling version of him, obscuring the face slightly.

"Well, I made it guys, like we talked about… they are a good group, younger then we were… You'd both like them, brash and unforgiving but kind. I told them our story last night, the old sable bastard sent the damn twins after me can you believe it, anyways though the four of them were able to keep each other safe in their first fight against the shadows. " Nought kicked back the rest of his glass as he reached for the bottle again, something was coming for him. His wasn't a part of this game. He was just a veteran of a war that never really happened. He topped his glass of as he heard a phone go off. Reaching for it Nought flipped the phone open and put it to his ear, Only a handful of people still had this number, and only one who would call him this late. Only one person still knew what this day really meant.

"Natalia, I'm scared…" Nought's voice broke slightly, he was just now getting drunk enough for the alcohol to take its hold on him. He knew it was her because whenever he let himself get like this he always got a call from his guardian angel.

"Jeremiah…" the voice that came back was smooth and silky, the sound that he loved but at the same time couldn't stand. They were gone because they chose to go down in a blaze of glory to save her instead of keeping themselves safe. Shaking his head slightly, Nought got a handle on his emotions again. They were gone yes, but not in vain. She was alive and she was safe, "Jeremiah listen to me, the story of the Group of Fools is about to leave the docks, the ship is going to leave for choppy seas. You need to make sure that you can keep them safe for now."

"I will to my dying breath, you know that. Any chance the old man would let you out for a night? I… … I need someone to hold on to at the moment." Nought's voice was hopeful but not full of belief in his question, like he already knew the answer...

"I'm sorry Jeremiah, I wish I could but tonight my master is bringing the fools together. He believes that the sable prince will be making his move soon enough… please be careful Jeremy," Nought froze for a second; no one had called him by that name in a long time. He tried to get his voice back before he heard her softer this time, "I wouldn't know what to do if my first contractor was lost… and I'll see what I can do for tonight." Click.

Nought fell backwards onto his sofa letting himself sprawl as he flipped his phone shut. This was going to be bad, better if she could work out a way but still…

* * *

Velvet Room

The Four Fools looked around hearing the music start up again The sad and simple Aria that surrounded them and reminded them where they were, as if the amount of soothing blue velvet in this room could possibly be anything else. Taking a deep breath Bill smelled the Sea, looking around he stopped for a second, and he could feel it, so light that he didn't even notice at first, the room rocked, minutely almost not enough to completely ignore if you had no clue what to sense for. They weren't in a diner like he and the others thought. They were on a boat, a large one, like a small cruise liner or a large yacht. The four heard footsteps as Natalia stepped out of the shadow, she had on a pair of black slacks and a deep velvet shirt with a blur and black stripped vest over the top buttoned up. The upper part of her blue tie could be seen as her blue Auburn hair, no longer in the casual ponytail was now curled and free. She carried with her the wine list that she always had. She walked out to the chair that usually housed their host.

"I apologize, my master is delayed from being here as he normally enjoys. Please feel free to be comfortable, for once he returns we set sail," the woman looked off into the distance as she smiled at the kids, her voice changed slightly, becoming less formal, softer. "So how did initiating your first individual social links go?" The fools looked at her again her golden eyes lighter than usual a small knowing smile on her face.

Bill sighed and shrugged his shoulders slightly, a general air of this is long to be a long fight could be felt off of him; the other fools leaned to agreeing. Tiberius, still sore despite this being a different version of reality was the first to speak.

"I just hope that all of your guys weren't as painful as mine… Damn that old man hits hard." The others looked over at Tiberius with a raised brow. Jak laughed as they heard another set of footsteps, Igor walked up in his usual black suit sitting in his usual spot he bowed lightly to the gathered Fools.

"I apologize for my tardiness. I had some previous arrangements that needed to be changed, but let us move on shall we? Hehem. Greetings my gathered fools, this will be one of the last times I shall gather us here myself," Igor waved his hands and four glowing blue keys appeared over the table, each one similar in color and shape, but all noticeably different keys. As the four keys spread out to the four Fools Igor continued talking. "These keys allow you to open the doors of reality to enter into this realm. While here no time passes in your world, you need to realize of course that for us to continue helping you we must enter into a formal contract. It is a simple contract, but please do not believe that it is any less binding." A book appeared in Igor's right hand, it was a small almost Journal like book. A white bone pen appeared in his left hand, "only one of you may sign for the group, feel free to chose among yourselves if need be, but remember the one who signs bears soul responsibility for the group, chose wisely." Igor placed the book and pen on the table and leaned forward resting his nose on his steepled fingers, his large eyes taking in the detail of his precious fools.

The three heads immediately turned to the fourth… Tiberius sighed, reaching forward he pulled the book towards him flipping it open.

_I Tiberius Gregory Romano,_

_Promise that we will be responsible for our decisions… _

Tiberius licked his lips before picking up the white pen feeling the draw of it. A cold power rested in the pen. Putting the tip to the paper Tiberius signed his name with his flowing hand. The ink that the pen left behind was blood red and thick, a pressure that he didn't even notice left his head, it was like a door opening in his mind, he felt lighter. Looking up at their host Tiberius saw a wide grin filling the face of the odd looking… he wasn't a man what was he… Igor's eyes grew larger as did the smile as if he could hear Tiberius thoughts.

The children phased out leaving Natalie and Igor in the room. A light humming sound could be heard as another pair of women entered the room. One of the pair, the taller of the two, had long blond hair that fell in full curls down past her shoulders, she wore a blue jacket and skirt combo, she simply was beautiful to look at her longer heels making a light clicking noise as she walked. The other one had her lighter hair closer cut, she was in a sleeveless high necked short dress that was also in a velvet blue, showing off her long legs that were encased in skin tight boots.

"I like him, he shows potential, he cares despite the past he brings with him, Don't you agree Elizabeth, Natalia?" the tallest of the golden eyed women had a pleasant voice that held a quality to it that made her sound almost apathetic if you weren't paying attention.

"She'll agree with that but Jeremiah is her favorite. Still, we all know that Margret," the shorter woman laughed a little she had a playful quality to her voice that made most people who met her smile. They looked over to Natalie who was holding her now full sized compendium, the second compendium she had been entrusted with, the two standing women went over to stand beside Igor, who instantly looked serious a sight that most mortals would be afraid of. The voice that he used was different than the one he used for guests of the room, slightly lower tone the formal glean gone from it.

"He is full of potential like all of those who sign the contract. Did you ladies complete your tasks?" Igor turned to the two women who recently entered. They nodded and sat down in chairs on the table in time to feel the initial pull of a ship leaving its dock. "Good, then the game begins tonight, they are a strong cast, they will be able to do wonders… and Natalia my dear, feel free to leave the room. Our elder Fool needs comfort…" Igor stood and walked out to the deck looking out to the sky. The planes were always beautiful at this time.

"Thank you sir…" Natalia stood and all but ran from the room out of the door. Her two sisters smiled at each other as she ran past.

"There she goes." Margret rose and went to the back of the room and grabbed a pair of glasses and a bottle of champagne. Popping the bottle open she poured the glasses and handed one to Elizabeth Margret took a sip from her glass before asking. "We are silly creatures aren't we?"

"Of course we are Margret, we exist for our Contractor, and as such we know parts of their future, Minato had such an interesting one, as did your Yu, the Wild Cards all have such interesting journeys after all. But I digress. Knowing what our little sister knows do you blame her?" Elizabeth drank some more of her glass after she spoke. The two sat there a moment before standing and walking out of the room, the two walked up to the deck of the ship they were on, it was a large yacht the back deck looking out into the sky, the water they were on was odd, almost like the ship was going over the storms of the real world. This was going to be an interesting story.

* * *

_High Peak Colorado, 11:55 Tuesday August 14__th__, Kingston residence._

Sarah Kingston was reading her newest book, she loved the series, and the author was one of her favorites. She stopped and looked out the window thinking today over; Arya seemed like a nice girl, a bit blind when it came to the man who was apparently acting as her guard dog, more like protective wolfhound, she giggled to herself at the reference. The Tarot book was an interesting thing. It was funny, she didn't look like an occult person but then again you never could tell these days. Sarah yawned feeling her eyes go heavy; it was time to go to sleep. Clicking off her lamp Sarah closed her eyes. She fell asleep just as the clock hit midnight.

She was in a dream of some sort, a library, or a castle… both maybe? The white marble floor was covered in a mosaic of gold and gems. A voice came in from behind her it was cold and felt like oiled steel slipping into her ears.

"Welcome Candidate," turning quickly Sarah saw the man who spoke to her; he was wearing a sable mask and was in a double breasted black suit with a sable tie and cape the man had an arrogant look on his face. He pulled out a card flipping it over it was the picture of a woman a glowing II at the bottom of the card. "I have a game for you…" A dark laughter filled the air of her dreams as creatures came swarming in, the last thing she remembers is a sound, the roar of some huge creature. When Sarah was absent and her mother went up to check on her they tried to wake her, when that failed she was taken to the hospital.

* * *

**King: That's another one down, I would like to have it said again that there is a button down below, see this button has magical powers, if you hit the button and type a message for me, I'll receive the message, I would love to hear something from some of you, this is a story that I love writing and I know that it's getting read, that I love by the way (Thumbs up you're all awesome for reading it) but I have had only gotten one review thus far, Now I know that the readers like it because the number of readers per chapter is growing on an exponential rate, again, that I love, now some of you can hit the button, remember someone has to be first, why not you (Uncle Sam point).**


	7. CASTRVM BIBLIOTHECA part 1: The Path

**King: Well here's another one for you guys to read and enjoy, So I have a request, I'd like to know how ya'll like the piece thus far, so if you'd be willing to shoot me a review I'd really appreciate it. I want to write chapters that you all would enjoy reading. I want to improve as a writer and in order to do so I need your help, yes you, the one reading this. You are the chosen one, the one whose opinions can change the way the story is written… SO READ ON CHOSEN ONE, READ AND REVIEW. –Hits a button pulling up a TV Screen Pops on to Show KaC in his Dorm room— KaC Report on the hostile takeover of Atlus?**

**KaC: Well King tensions are running high here. After a series of intense battles between our own PCs and the staff's godmoded personae we have made it approximately half way up the Atlus Headquarters. Unfortunately we are approaching a stalemate here. Both sides have hacked unlimited Somas and the only thing stopping these Armageddon spells are well timed Valhalla counter maneuvers. Luckily a recent surge of anti-DRM internerds have stormed the building as well. I don't think their actually here to help anyone but the distraction is still useful. KaC out.**

**King: God speed…**

_Hamilton High School, 8 am, Wednesday August 15__th_

The four students walked into their Physics class and something was off. Several of the students were bunched together, talking in hushed voices. As the four fools took their seats, Arya picked up the last bit of a conversation; the voices were from the cheer-zombies.

"… Like really hun, it was Sarah, you know mousey library girl?" April the head zombie, it had only been three days but it hadn't been hard to find who the people to know in the school were.

"No way April I mean… she was supposed to like help the squad with that project…" one of April's minion zombies, there were several, but few whose names were worth remembering.

"Class, Class, CLASS." Their homeroom teacher was up at the board and had finished writing out a problem on the board. The students all took their seats and faced the front of the room where Nought started the lesson for the day.

Near the middle of the lesson Arya was shocked when Tiberius poked her in her side pointing to the front of the room and a smiling Nought… Uh-oh this couldn't be good… She looked at the board and quickly did the problem in her head standing up.

"Mass= 12.5 grams and the force is 9.81 sec pre sec squared." Arya hoped she had that right.

"Very good Ms. Wingfeild, but I was asking if you knew the fastest way out of the building in case of a fire." The room laughed as she sat back down a huge red blush covering the entirety of her face. Great way to start the day… but at least she got the answer right…

_Hamilton High School Cafeteria, 12pm_

"So I think that the hunt started last night…" the boys all stopped mid-food intake, Tiberius to the mouth, Jak mid bite, and Bill mid chew. Tiberius and Jak put down their greasy burgers that Bill snuck in from Simon's while Bill swallowed the bite in his mouth Arya had yet to touch her salad.

"Who…" Tiberius was the first to speak up the feel of the table suddenly serious despite the zoo going on around them. Jak leaned back but his interest in the topic was obvious. Bill sat up straight focusing on the small girl across from him.

"Sarah Kingston, I met her in the library yesterday. From what I can pick up from the gossip, she is a nerdy girl, not many people know her well but almost everyone knows of her. She couldn't be woken up this morning and was transported to the hospital; the doctors can't what's wrong with her." Arya looked at the group as she spoke. Bill looked slightly disturbed as he stood up and walked away from the table she noticed his fists clenching; Tiberius rose and followed after him as Jak sat back to collect his thoughts.

_With Bill and Tiberius_

Tiberius followed Bill into the weight room and back to the sets of heavy bags that were strung up near the back left corner of the cardio room. Bill shrugged off his red over shirt revealing a plain white sleeveless shirt that hugged his muscles. Tiberius flipped off his emerald green button down and threw one of the set of washable hand wraps over to his large friend. This wasn't a time for words; Bill was on edge and Tiberius needed to be careful if he wanted to know why. Bill wrapped his hands and slipped on a pair of the bag gloves, clenching his fists a couple times before adapting a boxer's stance and starting on the heavy bag. His stance was rough and a little sloppy, but for never taking a class before in his life, he was impressive to watch. It made his attacks honest and the patterns truly random. Tiberius held the bag for him, lunch long forgotten as he watched Bill work the bag. With one last hit Bill stepped away from the bag exhaling. _I'm alright now, you can ask. _

"So, you know this Kingston girl?" Tiberius decided that blunt was the best way to handle this one, Bill nodded and pulled out his phone, pulling up his Facebook account he scrolled to something before tossing the phone over to Tiberius. Looking down Tiberius saw the date it was five years ago, seventh grade. A short chubby boy in an ill fitting suit and a taller lanky girl with braces and huge TV screen glasses in a dress, the caption above it read Bill Prior and Sarah Kingston. "THAT WAS YOU?" the punch to the side that followed was both expected and earned. Tiberius rolled with the hit letting most of the blow roll off of him Bill looked at him with dangerous eyes. _THAT is a touchy subject we DO NOT joke about._

"Fair enough and I earned the hit; careful though, you probably could split a shadow in two with that punch. So you know her, what does she look like now?" Bill made a scrolling motion with his finger, taking the hint Tiberius scrolled, and he saw the lanky girl develop into one of the rare hot librarian types, although adorable librarian would be a better way to put it, her lanky form evened out and she actually had some decent curves, her hair lightened into a strawberry blonde and her glasses changed from huge rectangles to full moon lenses. "Cute, and you don't hang out with her why?" Bill was actually blushing. "Dude you didn't fall for your childhood best friend did you…" Bill flinched slightly, "oh god you did…" Tiberius almost jumped at the death glare Bill was now throwing at him. Dodging the large man he scrambled around swearing he wouldn't tell a soul. Finally Bill stopped his pursuit and motioned for Tiberius to clothe back up for class. Nodding his head Tiberius patted his giant of a friend on the back the growth from laughing stock to athlete isn't an easy one. He saw Jak and Arya heading their way time for English.

_Back with the pair at the table_

Jak was deep in thought, he had heard and even seen the girl, she was in several of their classes. In fact the only one they didn't share was English, and by school records that was because she beat out the English classes, as a sophomore. He wasn't 'supposed' to know that just like he wasn't 'supposed' to know that Bill had been her date to school functions 'til freshman year. Jak thought about how the strings were connected, everything is connected after all you just have to figure out how… wait, what time is it?

Arya looked out at the wilds of High school going on around them, when Bill moved off it was like the Lion walking through the forest, everyone who saw him moved people out of his way, several groups went quiet. Tiberius moved and followed, he was the Leopard, blending as he moved, no one moving because no one really saw him. Near them the group of hyena's, the football team laughed and joked around, one of them almost walking into Bill's path before being pulled back by one of his mates. A group of girls sat at a nearby table, they reminded her of a group of Meerkats, head up and looking around that was until a boy came over, he was a larger kid bulky but kind looking the girls seemed to relax as he got there, the groups protector for some reason, the bull elephant, common enough. The Cheer-zombies looked more like a troop of monkeys grooming each other and gossiping.

She laughed a little at that one making sure to remember it for later. She then looked at Jak, trying to place him in the social Serengeti. He was a predator of some sort, he didn't have the look of one of the big cats though, even the Cheetah or Jaguar didn't match him, then she saw his head shoot up and lock onto something, of course he wasn't one of the ground based hunters he was the Marshall Eagle, the hunter of the skies who sees from a different perspective. Seeing Jak sigh and pack up his bag She did the same, Jak picked up Bill and Tiberius' bags and started walking, Arya moved after wondering in the back of her mind where she fit in the metaphoric wilds of the public school system. Seeing her two other boys step out from the weight room area she smiled as Jak wordlessly tossed them their bags and the four of them made their way up to English.

_After School, Physics Room_

The four of them waited as Nought finished whipping down the board. He looked over his shoulder at the group of them waiting for him. This was going to be a long day.

"So you have figured out that they have made their first move then?" Nought's voice was heavier than usual it had a tired feel to it like he hadn't slept in the past few days. The Fools noticed it earlier in the day, his movements were slower, the other students couldn't tell but the man was running himself ragged.

"You OK Doc?" Jak was in his usual spot.

"I'm fine Jak… I'm fine, you all have your pills right?" Nought saw all of the students nod their heads. "Good before you go to sleep tonight take one, also don't do anything to strenuous between now and then. Study some, decide what your clubs are going to be, don't train and don't tire yourselves out, that will transfer over to the dream world… see you all tonight." The four of them stood and left, leaving him alone in the room. He grabbed a helmet from behind his desk. A serious look on his face, he left his lab coat on over his jeans and plain white tee. He walked to the window and watched as Jak got into a Camaro as Bill hopped into his truck throwing his bag in the bed. Tiberius hooked arms with Arya and walked off with her, probably to walk her home and then himself back to Anthony Hauser's home… probably. Naught looked out the window a moment longer, before grabbing his bag with work to grade and started his way over to the teacher's lot. As he approached the bike he smiled as he saw a woman leaning on his bike, she was in casual clothes; all in blue she even had a blue helmet with a tinted blue visor.

"Jeremy, let's go for a ride again…" her voice was clear to him as he made his way towards her. He flipped up the visor revealing a pair of golden eyes staring back at him; tears were close to falling down her face. "Please…"

He pulled her into a soft embrace before throwing his bag in one of the saddle bags before mounting the bike. He felt her slim arms wrap around him as the woman pulled herself closer to him. "As my Empress demands it, so shall it be…" and he drove off her holding onto him tightly.

_Prior Residence_

Bill walked through the door of the quiet house with a bag over his shoulder, he passed by the photos of his family he was the baby of the bunch and he smiled at different pictures as he passed by them, "memories are worth more than gold." His father's favorite phrase and Bill agreed with it, his family was always busy but they had Sunday dinner every week. They tried to eat together as often as possible. It was a good household, a warm one. He climbed up to his room, opening the door to the four room suite that was his 'room.' He threw his bag over near the desk before opening the door to his library. Novels, Comics, Manga, print was everywhere as he walked he picked up a remote and hit a button, smooth jazz filled the sound proofed room that he loved so much. Picking up a book at random he fell happily and somehow gracefully into his overstuffed arm chair and reached over and flicked the on switch to the electric kettle he had installed and placed a tea-bag into a waiting mug. Checking his random choice he smiled at the one he picked up, one of his favorites the classic Detective himself Sherlock Holmes. He'd read for a while… Get his mind off of Sarah, she'd be fine, he was coming for her after all.

_Chase Residence_

Jak came home to an empty house… he wanted to hit something… as he passed through the white walled house it looked to damn perfect. His mother was a great decorator, the house looked like from a photo shoot, everything looking perfectly lovely, and completely devoid of the feeling of HOME. He remembered Naught's advice about not working himself to hard. He grabbed the mail on the way in flipping through it, mostly ads, a letter addressed to his mum, from the government, who was Simon Grace… whatever her letter. That was about it. He grabbed the computer ads and checked the fridge. A note from his mother was there waiting for him, working late, new weird case, girl's life in danger… at least she had a reason. God he hated these times of self-loathing. He couldn't even talk to S78lk3r right now; he didn't want her to worry about him. It was his job to worry about her, not the other way around. Jak decided best thing to do at the moment was to lose himself in mindless violence. As he closed the door on the lair he went over to his HQ and shifted the screen, setting the two bottom screens to run split screen with the top two monitors still being independent. Pulling up Avenger's Wrath, an MMO that he beta'd, he also switched on his music and the running leader boards. He went to work he could lose himself in this game for hours.

_Wingfeild Residence_

"So you're Tiberius, a pleasure to meet you young man." Arya was beyond embarrassed, she was mortified, she was past calming down… they had barely passed the school when they heard a motorbike, turning they saw Dr. Nought drive by with a woman on the back of his bike who was holding on to him more than absolutely necessary. They hadn't taken more than two more steps when a horn honked next to them, her mother in the station wagon… of course. The drive over had gone smoothly once her mother told her that her dear father was going to be late getting home tonight, he had a meeting at a local college about becoming one of their instructors. They came home to find the dog run forward and jump onto Tiberius, who thankfully laughed it off and got down to the dog's level.

"The pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Wingfeild, your daughter is a life savior when it comes to some of the work." Arya looked over at her mother who had an odd smile on her face that sent chills down her spine, oh no… her mother saw how close she was to him on the street she had to have.

"So tell me about your parents, Tiberius," Arya sucked in a breath as Tiberius stopped mid pet on the dog who instantly nudged itself closer to him. Her mother's eye's shot to her in question.

"They were missionaries overseas… they aren't coming home…" Tiberius patted the dog twice on the head before standing; he looked at both mother and daughter a slightly sad smile on his face. "Don't be sorry you had no way of knowing…" He grabbed his bag and made his way towards the door, looking over his shoulder he looked back to normal, "I'll see a later Arya." And with that he walked out the door.

"Oh Bollocks," Arya's eyes went huge at her mother's cursing she never cursed, never. Seeing her daughter stare the older woman sighed. "Sorry about that Love I really and truly am, he's a nice boy, I won't tell your father about what I saw today, don't worry about that."

"It's K mum," Arya smiled at her mother. "He's much stronger then you'd think and there's nothing TO tell dad about… right now anyways."

"Sure dearest, sure." Her mother smiled at her as she started dinner.

_With Tiberius on his walk home _

She had to bring them up… not her fault; she had no way of knowing about his parents. Tiberius hit a stop sign on his way past in frustration. This was going to be a long walk home, on purpose. He had to think as he walked he let himself look over the past three days… Three days… since the dream in the velvet room, since meeting Bill, Jak, and Arya. As he walked he found himself near an old dinner, Simon's… why not. Making his way over Tiberius saw a man leaning against one of the stone walls, he was about half way in between Jak and Bill, so slightly taller than Tiberius. His black hair was in a long tied up pony tail and his eyes were a deep amber, he was heavily tanned. His jeans and a white shirt were clean although the apron around his waist had grease stains on it, he was smoking a cigarette and when he saw Tiberius nodded to him. Tiberius made his way over to the man and nodded to him.

"Tiberius Romano, new guy in town," Tiberius leaned across the wall and held out his right hand.

"Bobby Goodfellow, ex-new guy and drifter, nice to meet you Ti," the man had a warm voice and his grip was calloused, firm and for some reason made Tiberius want to like him. Bobby had an easy smile and more than a small twinkle of mischief in his eyes. He offered Tiberius his pack, "Smoke?"

"Nah," Tiberius waved his hand slightly, "I don't I'm still a month away and my uncle's one of the detectives in town." Bobby nodded and took a drag of his the cherry at the end glowing for a second before he flicked the edge of the cig sending the ash to the ground.

"You should be getting home soon Tiberius Romano, you need anything let me know I'll be here. Oh, and good luck this year." Tiberius watched the man turn and walk away, back around the dinner, Tiberius started walking when he heard a honk, turning he saw his uncle's car, pull up next to him.

"Need a ride Champ?" His uncle's clear blue eyes smiled as he made a head motion to the back seat where he could see his sisters in the back. Amanda smiled and waved at him as Emilia was lost in a book. "We were just about to head over to pick up some stuff for diner; oh you're cooking by the way. What do you want to make?"

"Hey Girls, how about some Pasta Romano?" the girls both looked at Tiberius, and nodded their head. Walking around Tiberius knocked the top of the trunk and waited as it popped open, throwing his bag in he made his way around to the passenger's seat. Tonight might end ok after all.

_Prior Household_

Bill put away the plates and loaded the dishwasher thinking over diner his mom came home and decided that since it was just the two of them why they don't have take-out, brandishing a plastic bag that had a rolled paper one inside of it. Soon the two ate as they talked about their days.

"Sarah is in the Hospital mom…" Bill took a bite of his pork fried rice as he brought it up.

"Kingston? I hope she gets better soon I haven't seen her in a while now how has she been?"

"Good mom, she's… she's been good…" Bill then fell back into his quiet self stood and kissed his mother goodnight. Walking up to his rooms he walked back to his bed he opened his bag and took out one of the small pills; it almost seemed to glow a light red color. Popping it into his mouth he swallowed and thought about what needed to be done, he would save her… he would… and his eyes flittered shut.

_Chase House_

Jak finished the sweep of the Dungeon and closed out of the game flipping his screens over to take care of other things, he had one screen up doing a point security test for Egera Corps one of his first clients. He smiled and reached over to the bottle of pills taking one out. It was such a small little white pill, flipping it into the air he swallowed it and made his was over to his queen sized bed and fell into it. He was more than ready to kill something.

_Wingfeild residence _

True to her word Arya's mother told nothing about the day to her father, her brother though…

"He was a big guy daddy, biggerer then you…" She loved Edward… but she could kill him right now… John Wingfeild turned to his daughter and raised an eyebrow… "…and when Mummy and Me picked them up he was 'scoting her like you did for Mummy at your pesentation…" She was so going to become an only child…

"Really now Eddy, that in interesting, what was his name Arya…" her father was back in marine mode as she sighed wishing her mother would come in and assist her.

"His name is Tiberius Darling, and he wasn't escorting Arya he was walking her home to make sure she got home safely, apparently so leave her alone." Thank you mother, the dog came trotting in and put its large head into Arya's lap. Its tail started to wag slowly as she patted its head. She looked at the time and said goodnight to her family, she made her way upstairs the pills, such a pretty color of violet… taking one and sipping some water she made her way over to her bed and passed out, tonight she would prove that she was strong.

_Home of Detective Hauser_

"Tiberius from now on you are designated chef…" Tiberius watched as his uncle leaned back and poured himself a glass of bourbon. The girls were already changed and in bed, they adjusted quickly to the new town, new school, new friends… good.

"I'd be happy to Uncle." Tiberius was washing the last of the pots by hand and happy to have been of service, his mother was a great home chef and he felt closer when he was cooking. Pasta Romano was a dish that Baba had cooked for years and Tiberius remembered that it was the girl's favorite it was a simple filling dish, cheap, peasant food. A simple rich Tomato sauce, good herbs and a mix of beef and pork sausage, the kitchen would smell like an Italian herb garden for the next three days, it would smell like their old home in St. Louis.

"Tiberius… I am proud of you…" Tiberius placed the last dish on the drain board and sat across from his uncle who reached over and poured a second smaller glass and pushed it over to Tiberius, "Drink, we need to have a conversation." Tiberius took a sip of the amber liquid and let the warmth fill him as he looked across to his Uncle. "How are you doing Tiberius? No kidding, no stories."

"I see why you poured me the drink now…" Tiberius laughed a little as he took a bigger drink of the glass. "You want me to be honest? I'm surviving, I wake up go to school, which is going well by the way, hang out with my new friends, Bill, Jak and Arya, come here and well…" A tear fell from Tiberius' face and hit the table, he took another drink from the glass. "I'm surviving…"

"I know that, you come from strong stock Tiberius," Hauser stood and drained his glass and picked up the bottle, "I hope you realize that I am here to talk to…" Tiberius nodded his head as more tears started to fall. Tiberius stood shortly after his uncle left and made his way up to his room, little golden pills, they were small spheres. He nodded his head as he popped one into his mouth biting down on it releasing a blast of liquid down his throat. He tossed the pills into his bedside table's middle drawer. Leaning back into his bed he closed his eyes… He would save the girl. No one else would die if he could help it…

_Somewhere Else…_

Nought watched as the four of them enter the Dreamscape. They all must have taken their pills near the same time, Jak had his duster on his gun rig centered on his waist, his brown hair was tussled a bit but he looked ready to go. Bill cracked his neck and flexed his gloved hands knuckles cracking. Arya ditched the Jacket this time and replaced her skirt with a pair of jeans, her red long sleeved shirt was form fitting. Tiberius came up last an over the shoulder messenger like bag was added to the ensemble. His sword was hanging on his right side as always. The four looked around and noticed that they were in the middle of an empty space… no not empty in a white space of some sort.

"Welcome to the Dreamscape class, this is going to be your hub for the hunt from here you will be able to find your way to wherever you need to go." As Nought spoke the group looked around finding a blue Doorway and a marker. "That door leads to the velvet room and the marker is your doorway back to reality." He pointed above their heads a clock was ticking… backwards. "We have eleven and a half hours left until we are forced out of the Scape, so come on," With that Nought took off at a sprint and the group followed after him.

"How does he know where to go?"Bill asked under his breath as they kept running soon they began to see walls branching off making passageways and turns Nought seemed to be taking these turns at random until they saw a door, sliding to a stop Nought stepped back and caroled the group foreword. The door was huge and made of what looked like steel it had a large wheel near the center of it attached to the locking mechanism, like a vault door. Bill stepped forward and touched the wheel and it began to spin. Tiberius moved forward hand on hilt as Bill fell into a boxer's stance; Arya drew out her bow knocking an arrow as Jak pulled out his guns, Nought behind the group smiled at their movements it was good for them to be on edge their first time here. The door swung open to a storm and a winding path leading up to a castle Lightning struck around the building off in the distance. The group stepped out and started their way up the path they were on guard as they moved Tiberius in front eyes never staying in one place for long, Arya had an arrow at rest on her string her eyes always where Tiberius' weren't. Jak had his guns put away but his hands were near them as he walked he was walking backwards though his back close to Arya as they moved, Bill brought up the rear walking like a coiled spring each step threatening to charge forward and storm the castle.

"Easy Bill-a-boy, Easy," Jak's voice was serious as he looked around trying to keep his friend calm, "We'll get her outta here."

As they moved shadows could be seen in the windows. As they approached the main gate Jak finally turned around and read the inscription over the gateway, CASTRVM BIBLIOTHECA, Nought stood outside the doorway waiting for them.

"Tiberius get over here for a second," Nought made a monition at Tiberius who walked over to him. "Here are some things that'll help you. It took me a little bit to gather them together," He pulled out a small bag of what looked like candy, "Soul Drops, these will give you a slight charge of Spirit Pressure when you are running low, try to use your powers sparingly for now. These," he showed the group a set of wrapped items, "were a pain in the ass to get over here, Peach seeds, they will help if you get injured, and on the subject of injuries a roll of bandages." Waving the large white roll in the air for a second he tossed all of the items into the main pocket of Tiberius' bag zipping it shut. "I'll be right behind you the entire time. I just can't interfere, part of the agreement. So we ready to go?"

The group nodded as they walked forward, Tiberius taking the lead and lifting up his leg kicked forward at the door making it fly open, as they strode in the four of them fanned out, Tiberius and Bill in the lead with Arya flanking Tiberius on his left and Jak on Bill's right. Behind the bunch Nought walked calmly hands in his pockets. _They will be fine, _the teacher thought, _They are strong, this will be interesting._

**King: Well that's another one done, I want to thank you guys for reading, this… power fading… KaC Help… you… only… hope….(passes out on Keyboard)**

**KaC: ZZZZZZZZ.**


	8. CASTRVM BIBLIOTHECA part 2: The Chance

**King : KaC come in this is King, Over**

**KaC: KaC here. Engines are hot and ready to go. Over.**

**King: Where are we with the Atlus Project?**

**KaC: We are approximately 3 parts away from completing the device. After that its just timing.**

**King: Excelent, and we have something to contain the fall out?**

**KaC: It's Japan. I assume it will be contained by Gundams.**

**King: ... Fair enough**

**KaC: Okay so the first part we need is... Oh look who's here**

**King: Who?**

**KaC: *whispers* The audience.**

**King: -Turns around quickly- OH Hi guys it's been awhile... ummm how ya doin'?**

**KaC: Nice cover.**

**King: Shut it, -turns back to the audiance- Well here's your next chapter, I know you guys read it I check the veiw counter, I have a request though, drop a review? sned a Pm if you'd rather, I'd just like to know your thoughts. I'm kind of swinging around in the dark on this one I think I'm doing ok because you guys aren't saying anything but at the same time I'm not sure... Well as always we own nothing, for now, and we are looking for someone who is artsy who would like to help with the cover art, anything else Beta?**

**KaC: Hmmm...Oh yeah. First person to review 100000000000000000000000000000000 times gets a free copy of the first live action movie to contain deadpool.**

**King: ... Yeah well on with the story**

**KaC: To infinity!**

**King: *Facepalm***

_Wednesday Time unknown, CASTRVM BIBLIOTHECA_

The marble entry way was quiet, lamps were attached to the wall in between massive bookcases the lamps provided just enough flickering light to fill the large room with a dim glow at the edge of their sight the darkness almost seemed to be a fog. The air in the castle felt heavy suffocating almost as the four teens slowly made their way around the room. As they moved through the room they felt like something, someone was watching them. The sound of classical music filled the air, a light chord progression that rose and fell, loud enough to be heard, but light enough to just barely register the independent notes. Jak looked behind the group and quickly tugged on the sleeve of Bill.

"Uhhhhh… Bill-a-boy…." Bill turned and looked passed Nought down the path they were walking on.

"Oh… Shit…" Tiberius turned on a step drawing his attention towards where the door should be. His sword seemed to teleport into his hand as Arya turned arrow pulled back to her ear bow at the ready; she slowly brought the draw down as they saw that the door was gone behind them.

"Doc, talk to us…" Tiberius looked over to the teacher eyebrow raised slightly.

"The door is there, just hidden for now, when you are ready to leave it will be found again… On a side note…" The sound of scratching and a murmuring sound filled the area as the four guards moved into a square back to back, as the four scanned the room they could see Nought's eyes glow for a second before the silhouette of a rotund figure appeared behind him for a moment before disappearing. A swarm of Shadows filled the area, they were different from the ones that invaded Nought's Classroom, as the kids called it, most of the Shadows were books, they saw slow moving glows approaching from off in the distance. The four of them moved quickly, Bill and Tiberius shot forward and started to fight as Arya and Jak kept the other shadows off of their backs. Jak was taking slow shots, aiming slowly measuring each shot before pulling the trigger dropping a shadow with each pull. Arya's shooting style was faster sending arrow after arrow locking joints, pinning feet and setting up easier targets for Bill and Tiberius. They were all going to try and save using their personas for when they were really going to need them. Arya the one who had the widest focus could finally see what created the lights, giant lantern like enemies, glass domes with black iron caps and bases, the four feet of the base were connected to the shadow by long legs that were taller than the globe bent at the height of the globes back to the base, every few minutes one would straighten its legs reaching up to twelve feet tall, a flaming mask moved independently, looking into the lamps Arya saw that the lights were hundreds of these burning masks all moving around.

"Carriers incoming," Arya tried to keep her memories of flame and her persona down as she drew and aimed an arrow carefully. She felt the pressure of her persona whispering to her, a confidence in her abilities, a want to fight, a word being pushed to her mind out her mouth before she even realized she was saying it. "Gara…" As she let the arrow fly it pierced her tarot card, Euthkhia taking the place of the arrow sending a powerful blast of wind fast enough to be seen as a solid blade cut into the flame shadow and making it expand before exploding catching the bottom of one of the lamps causing it to explode in turn; setting off a chain reaction causing the entire back portion of the hoard to disappear into a ball of flames Arya almost laughed at the massive wave of heat that seemed to embrace her. The boys heard the first explosion their eyes going over just in time to see the massive explosion.

"Great job Arya, you found the weakness." Nought clapped lightly for her as a shadow tried to attack him from behind only to bounce off of a barrier of some sort. The sound of a gun and the creature dropped to the ground breaking apart and floating away like ash. "Thank you Jak."

Tiberius moved slashing upwards perfectly bisecting the mask of a big man shaped pile of words before turning and changing his grip he slammed the blade through the mask of another, he felt a shadow behind him and tried to pull his sword out only to find the blade stuck in another shadow behind the one he just speared. An arrow went through the mask of the one in front of him releasing his sword just in time to roll out of the way of a ball of ice and right in front of a red hard covered book. It flipped open to reveal a mask and a gout of flame shot out at him. Looking around he saw that there were several books that floated back up, they hadn't gotten them. He called out to the group.

"The books were faking! Everyone get back to formation, NOW." Tiberius Dodge another blast of ice only to have a bolt of lightning slam into his back, it hurt but it could have been much worse. Bill hit a blue book's mask right before it could launch a bolt of lightning the discharge flew from his fist into the back of a white book knocking it down flipping it open to its mask. He dodged a ball of ice only to be clipped in behind from a blast of flames he fell forward slightly able to right himself last minute so he wouldn't fall prone. He made his way his back hitting Tiberius' as Jak and Arya rounded back in there weren't that many left ten maybe twenty. Remembering back Bill made a decision, the yell of Vengeance weakened those shadows… a pressure built in the back of his mind as he felt a word come to his lips.

"Rakukanda," The blue card formed in front of Bill who broke it releasing Vengeance who let loose a wail that made one of the books shudder a moment its cover seeming to soften. Seeing the weakness Bill shot forward and planting his fore foot twisted at the waste turning his fist as he shot his arm forward sending the red book flying into a pair of others knocking them down flipping open to the masks. Bill moved to finish the three off only to get electrocuted, burned and frozen all at the same time. This time Bill couldn't help it as he was dropped to the ground. Jak seeing his friend fall emptied his guns into the shadows near him before rushing over to his friend.

"Ti, Arya, keep these damn bastards off my back." Jak made his way over to Bill and Started to cast Dia after Dia trying to stabilize his friend. He was oblivious to the dance that Tiberius and Arya were doing around their fallen comrade Arya pinning them and Tiberius finishing them off. One of the Shadows struck Tiberius in the back throwing him off balance only to have another one slam into his left knee. He fell to his knee and started to breath heavily. Arya slid next to Tiberius releasing an arrow into the mask of another book. She pulled out a pair of peach seeds and threw them to Tiberius who crushed them feeling his energy return. As she turned from throwing the seeds she knocked and loosed another arrow into the mask of a book that was charging up an Ice shot the arrow pierced the mask blowing the spell up catching several other books. Bills eyes flew open in time to throw Jak out of the way and lam his fist into the mask of the last shadow. As it dissipated the four of them all slumped together sighing.

_Velvet Room,_

Four figures were looking over the bow of the ship into the sea of souls around them. They watched as the four fools began to understand how to fight, how to move, what there rolls were on the battlefield.

"They did well." Elizabeth remarked as the four fighters got themselves back up and moving again. "They were very lucky that their little archer found the weakness of those Lamp-Lighters." Igor nodded his head slightly hearing his middle daughter speak. He stood in the middle of the group Natalie sat her feet over the edge of the rails dangling as she watches her group of fools work.

"Luck sister minute has a hand in everything, would your dear Minato have been able to seal away Nyx without it?" Natalie turned her head and the light catching her golden eyes softening them as a small smirk filled her face. Margret covered her mouth and tried to suppress her giggles, her own Yu had a great deal of luck in his endeavors.

"She's right dear sister. Luck is a fools Fortune, so wouldn't be doubly so for the Girl?" The girls laughed a bit as they heard a clearing of throat behind them. "Brother, how good of you to bring the drinks up." The man sighed, he left his customary blue jacket down in the galley, his black sleeves rolled up and his blue velvet tie loosened the top button of the shirt undone, in his left hand a tray with five drinks sat waiting to be given out. They were all different colors, he picked up a deep amber one and made his way over to the group and looked over the rail.

"How are they doing?" the male attendant of the Velvet Room looked over the edge curious about the new persona users. They were starting to move forward; behind them he saw Nought and smirked slightly. Theodore was a protective brother, and in recent years his growth had caught up to him, though he dressed the same he had fully entered the maturity of their kind, his shoulders broader and he was now fully taller than Elizabeth and Margret. He knew of Nought's feelings for his younger sister but it didn't bother him. "I see the old fool decided to not head Master's warning…"

"No…" Natalia sighed as she smiled sadly at her older brother before watching her fool grab Jak's arm and pull him away from a big red button and make a motion with his hand to Bill. "… he didn't, he told me his place was with them to teach and guide him while he can. Just like him… _Baka_."

She felt a hand drop down and pat the top of her head. Looking up she saw Theodore's head his eyes watching the group move forward hitting small pockets of shadows strong and fast, her eyes started to tear as she saw the adult behind the group.

_CASTRVM BIBLIOTHECA_

The group spread around another small group of dissolving shadows to pick up the dropped items, simple gamer logic dictated to pick up everything they could. You never know what would become important later. Tiberius found something and stopped; he picked an item up and went over to Nought. He held up a small roll of five dollar bills.

"How do?" Nought raised a brow at the kid and took the roll and counted out eight fives in all handing them to Tiberius again He made a motion with his head over towards the group.

Give two to everyone, when you wake up a tenner will either be in your respective wallets or on your bedside tables." Nought looked around scanning the area the group had been doing well thus far, they were being watched though, not only by the velvet room but by something else, someone else…

"NOUGHT," the doctor snapped back to the group of teenagers and noticed that they were moving ahead. A large double door was closed in front of them Bill and Tiberius were on a door each and began to push the doors open Jak and Arya had weapons pointing towards the opening gap. Nought jogged lightly to catch up to the group and watched as they made their way into a large open room a staircase going up to the right another smaller door was on the other side of the room it had a hole in it, a rectangle imprinted deep into the door. Arya reached into a pocket and drew out the deck of tarot cards and made her way over to the door, she felt a presence in the back of her mind pushing her on telling her to fit the deck into the hole, that the deck was the key to opening the door. As she moved ahead ignoring the group she placed the deck into the door and seeing the cards shuffle themselves she watched as a card flipped over. The Hierophant in the upright a voice filed the air.

"_Thou hast done well to find a door into the sea of your soul_

_Enter one and face the test of self_

_To pass is to find a missing piece_

_To fail is to fall behind_

_Choose now Wise Fool…"_

Everyone turned to Jak and raised a brow. Sighing he walked forward and as he stepped up to it he saw a ring of cards around the door, The Hierophant at the top of the circle, the fool at the bottom, Justice, The Emperor and The Wheel of Fortune were all face up. The other cards were all face down. A figure seemed to walk out of the circle it was Painter.

"_You have chosen to take the test."_ The voice was light and dreamlike as the persona spread his arms four cards in a line, one was of a winged creature a fairy of some kind, two were blank and one had a red cross on it. _"Now see if you can grab your future." _The cards began to spin in a circle and started to move faster and faster around until they were a near continuous blur. Reaching out Jak pulled his hand back… Something was off… Jak watched the cards spin a moment longer before smirking, and hands moving like a snake he grabbed a blank card on purpose. Seeing the card dissolve into the air he smirked when the tarot card hiding behind it came into view. The High Priestess floated in front of him. Again he heard his Persona speak to him. _"You have before you a second choice; this one risks not only you but the rest of your party as well. What do you chose?" _

"Chance." Jak saw the card before him spin. As the card began to slow Jak began to get anxious the card stopped Jak let out a sigh as the card stopped in the upright position, hopefully that meant something good.

"_The High Priestess in the upright, you and your companions shall be fully restored, go forth and save the candidate…" _ Jak saw a golden light fill the room and his Persona fade into it. Turning around Jak looked at the group and smiled as he leaned a hand against the door.

"Well?" Jak looked around and smiled as the others nodded and started up the stairs there was plenty of time for good jobs later, they had to keep moving. They were on a time clock after all.

What none of the children noticed was that the more they fought threw the floors, the more shadows that fell the stronger the group grew. They made it to the third floor quickly hitting shadows hard and fast, occasionally a new shadow type appeared and they tried to figure out the weakness and move on quickly hitting shadows quickly they cleared areas one after another until they found the steps, the air started to feel heavier with each step they took. As they entered the floor they looked around this floor was different then most… they were shot out into an anti-room, in front of them a large carved door waited in front of them.

"We stop here for the night." The group looked at Nought with confusion. "We have only two hours left, we have made it surprisingly far in one night. We turn and head back now, make it back to the gate with plenty of time, an hour per floor that is the best way to judge how long it will be to get back to the gate. Shadows revive themselves after all and if you get stuck in a dream you are stuck for at least the length of time it takes real world to get out." Turning Nought started to walk away.

"No." Bill moved towards the door only to stop when Tiberius grabbed an arm. "Let me go, I need to save her."

"Bill come on we need to head back like the Doc said, you don't want to be stuck here dude." Tiberius kept his grip light but firm on his larger friends arm trying to keep him grounded. "Come one dude, we will save her, we have time, right Doc?" He prayed that Nought would have something positive right about now.

"We have a week and a half, 10 days counting today, nine left." Bill shrugged out of Tiberius and took a step towards the exit before turning and sucker punching Tiberius in the jaw hearing a crack and seeing the leader fall Bill made it three steps to the door before the arrow whizzed by his head. He turned back for a second then heard the sound of a hammer being cocked back, looking back around Bill saw Jak standing gun leveled and ready to fire to blow his brains out.

"Com' on Mate, lets head back to the land of the Living. We plan tomorrow, we need to be careful not to go too far in one day." Bill nodded his head and moved over to the fallen Tiberius who was standing rubbing his cheek.

The group moved slowly through the second floor, Nought mentally released a sigh of relief, he felt what was behind that door, a true Shadow. He'd explain it to the group tomorrow what it meant to face one how they were different, smarter. The gaurds needed to leave the 'Scape, their Personas needed to have time to grow this wasn't a video game where after a certain amount of time boom upgrade. The Persona were a lot like children, they did most of their growing while dormant. The Personas would adapt to the fighting styles of their owners unlocking moves that represented the power of the user Arya's might gain something to lower defenses to allow her arrows to do more damage, Tiberius might gain a skill that would power up his own physical attacks, or might even sneak in an electric attack. Making sure that the group left Nought let himself also fade out of the dreamscape, they had an hour left in this realm which should translate to three hours in the land of the living.

_With Jak_

Jak looked around at his new surroundings, he was in a room a white cloth covered table was set around him, Igor sat in front of him, sitting next to him was a person he had never seen before. She had close cropped hair and was in what looked to him like a dress from a disco, she held in her arm a large leather bound book. She looked a lot like Natalie, like an older sister. Looking around Jak saw he was alone.

"Did I mess up already?" The woman looked almost surprised at Jak's question as Igor simply shook his head. Jak relaxed a bit into his chair as Igor began to shuffle the deck of tarot, it looked a lot like… "Are those the same as Arya's set?"

"Her set will become very similar to mine by the end of this hunt, Wise Fool." Igor smiled as he shuffled the deck of cards. "You were brought here for a very specific reason. You were chosen for a Chance. You could have won something you'd have no idea how to use. You are not like most who walk into this realm my wise Fool whereas most enter here and become leaders and warriors who lead their group to victory, as such they have to were a variety of masks, no single one a lie, yet no single one absolute truth. These masks are embodied by the Persona, there are multiple ways to force a Persona that was not gifted to you into action. One of the fools in recent years forced himself to confront his fear of death, push himself over the edge past terror every time he wished to summon." The disco chick smiled faintly though fondly at the statement. She clenched the book a little tighter to her chest and seemed lost in memory as Igor continued. "But I digress, the true purpose of the Wild Card is the ability to connect to any and every one needed to initiate more social links which in turn allow you to summon more powerful Persona. Be wary though not every Wild Card works the same way. Ah look at the time, we need to part for now, I look forward to seeing you again Wise Fool.Until next time…"

_Prior House, 3 am, Thursday August 16__th_

Bill woke up in his bedroom and looked out the window. He had a couple of hours before his alarm would go off. He looked over to his bookshelf and saw a series of photos on the shelf getting up he walked over and picked up a photo from the top shelf. A chubby boy and a lanky girl were sitting in a blanket fort their laughing faces caused Bill to tear up as he could have sworn he heard the laughter. Next time, he wouldn't come back out without her. He put the picture back as he sat at his desk and opened up his laptop. He logged in and brought up a word doc he had been working on for years, born from a promise to one of his only friends. He went over what he had on the Document before moving on with more. He would finish the story before Senior year was over… It was a promise after all and promises were made to be kept.

_Hauser Residence _

Tiberius heard a noise from down the hall and got up to check on it, the sound came from his sisters' room. Opening the door, he saw Emilia curled up on her bed her blonde hair messed up slightly sticking out from under her covers. Tiberius walked over to her and sat on her bed, the small girl feeling the shift in weight popped her head up tear streaks obvious as the girl crawled into her older brother's lap and clung to his black shirt crying.

"Why did mommy and daddy leave us, Ti?" Tiberius wrapped an arm around his sister's body as he placed his left hand onto the back of her head as he rocked her softly humming an old lullaby to her that their dad used to sing. As Emilia started to calm down she looked her brother in the eye "You aren't allowed to leave us brother. Not never."

"I promise sweetie, I will never leave the two of you alone." He felt his little sister's head fall back to his chest as she fell asleep again, tucking her in Tiberius turned to see his uncle standing at the door. The older man simply nodded his head and turned to walk back to his own room his nephew was a good kid, a strong kid but he was going to need to talk to somebody about his parents, he'd make a call.

_Wingfield House_

Arya heard the door to her room open and sat up in an instant her hand reaching on the other side of her bed to where her bow, cheap though it was, sat waiting for use. Her father walked in and seeing his daughter awake smiled as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"You ok poppet?" The retired marine held a hand out and brushed the hair out of her daughters face and smiled at her, she nodded returning the smile.

"Yes Papa, I'm fine. You just woke me." The girl cracked her back and looked around for a moment, "Do you need something Papa?"

"I heard you tossing around in the night and when I came in earlier you settled down, I was coming in to check on you again. Bad dreams?" Arya shook her head and looked her father again her eyes curious about the question. "You kept calling out a name, Tiberius, he was the chap who walked you home wasn't he?"

"Papa." Arya's eyes glared at her father as her voice gained an edge. She softened when her father put up his hands in surrender.

"Let me finish, Let me finish. If you trust this boy and if he is going to be around, I'd like to meet him…"

"PAPA"

"No, no nothing like that. I won't scare him I just want to meet him, I swear." Arya looked at her father hard before nodding.

"I'll bring Jak and Bill also, you can meet them all tomorrow after school. Night Papa." Arya laid back down as Her father nodded his head and walked out of her room nodding his head. He would try and be supportive of his daughter but if the boys didn't act properly then… well you learned all sorts of things in Her Majesty's service.

_Chase Residence_

Jak woke up and looked around his room sighing as he made his way upstairs for a drink of water… he really needed to get a bathroom down in his lair. As he went up the stairs he heard his mother's voice from down the hall.

"…are you doing sending me a letter telling me you are still alive." She sounded pissed so Jak made sure to stay quiet. "I have raised our son… NO OUR SON YOU WERE INVOLVED… See you remember his name, I know who those anonymous gifts came from, and they were from Santa every year… No John you bloody well will listen to this, I do know what OUR son does, I know of Super Aus and the hacking… No I don't keep an eye on his jobs, he does securities though he doesn't hack for gain… Who do you think got him the first job… You want back into my life? Our life?... No you lost that chance… I will do no such thing the letter for him is unopened but he will never see it… He does deserve a father, you ran away once though… I don't care if it was that important… No… good by Simon or whoever you really are." He heard then snap of her phone closing and then he heard her take a deep breath. The sounds of the sobbing were quiet but still audible. Putting on a sleepy face he walked into their living room.

"Mum?" The short woman's head popped up and the tears were obvious as she righted her pale ivory robe and forced a smile onto her face.

"I'm fine Jakey, what are you doing up?"

"It's nothing mum, I just wanted a drink… tea?" it was an old tradition for the two of them whenever one of them was dealing with something they would have some hot tea and talk with each other. Seeing his mother nod her head he walked lightly to the kitchen his mother behind him where he put on the kettle as he gathered the tea and honey his mother grabbed two big mugs reserved for this Occasion.

_Class room of Jeremiah Nought, Hamilton High School, 8 am, Thursday August 16__th_

"So class this is an important reminder we don't have school tomorrow and starting Monday the clubs will be opening up for people to choose from, while most of you have your clubs already this is still important to say. On a side note anyone wishing to join the physics club needs to be ready for explosions, fire and flying bowling balls. That wraps up important announcements so let's get back to gravity," Nought walks over to a door next to the blackboard and throwing it open reaches in and pulls out a cart "and surprise, today is lab day, alright everyone pair up." Arya moved her chair over towards Tiberius, who inturn shifted his body slightly towards her. Bill looked over with an amused look in his eye as he grabbed Jak before he could do anything overly stupid, like trying to split the pair.

The lab was a simple one that was done all around the world by people everywhere, drop the things and figure rate. Half way through the experiment Tiberius sighed and looked over at Arya who looked away, for the fourth time in twenty minutes.

"Go ahead Arya what do you need to tell me." He set up the drop mechanism and watched her out of the corner of his eye as she froze for a second. Turning he knocked the mechanism slightly setting it off, the 4 kg ball dropped towards his outstretched hand , Arya flicked her pencil at the ball knocking it out of the way so it hit the ground.

"You and the others are going to need to come by today, my father wants to meet all of you." Tiberius bent over and picked the ball up tossing it over to her as he set the mechanism back up to run it again. As the two of them finished the lab Tiberius agreed to get the guys to go over to her house after school. As the class ended Nought reset the room and said he looked forward to seeing them for last period.

The rest of the day passed without a hitch and as the day ended they all hopped into Bill's truck with Tiberius and Arya in the bed. The four pulled up to her house and got themselves out Tiberius jumped down and then taking Arya's hand helped her down. As the four of them walked towards the door Arya went ahead and opened the door, the sound of Music filled the air, a piano piece slow and methodic slowly gaining in speed and volume.

"I'm home Papa, we'll be in the front room," She called out as she lead the boys. Inside she was repeating a simple mantra, please don't be in uniform, please don't be in uniform. As the boys got situated Arya sat in her favorite chair relaxing into the arm chair she looked up surprised to see Tiberius leaning against the top of her chair his eyes never locking onto anyone item for any length of time. Looking down he smiled at her before moving on to the door where he saw a thin shorter man coming through the door. The man had the same brown hair as his daughter as well as the brown eyes. He was dressed in a pair of Jeans and a white oxford style shirt leaving the top button unbuttoned. Tiberius straightened up and made a motion towards the approaching man, turning Jak and Bill did the same. Tiberius stepped around the chair and extended his hand to the man.

"Tiberius Romano, sir a pleasure to meet you." John Wingfield took the hand and shook it once before letting it go with a quick "John Wingfield." The Man made a sweeping motion and everyone took their seats again Tiberius resuming his position behind Arya.

"Won't you take a seat Tiberius?" John raised a brow as he tried to get a read on each of the boys. Bill was the easiest; the quiet type smarter than people give him credit for, Jak was always talking but heard everything. Tiberius though he seemed to be the one in charge. He was a polite young man, John would admit that his wife was right about that, the boy seemed like a caged predator though always looking around, never sitting perfectly still. As the group talked John was tactful not to bring up parents having already been warned from his wife that if he messed up the dog would be having company for a long time. As if summoned by thought the beastie walked in and sniffed feet of people stopping at Tiberius and sniffed some more almost like the dog was confused. Tiberius leaned over and pet the dog who decided that the strange thing that smelled like a human was fine.

As the boys all collected themselves and left Arya looked at her father proud of him for not going overboard with the questions and not putting out a threat or using the word marine or gun once. Arya went to bed after dinner and woke to find the boys waiting for her ready to go, she nodded to the group, it was time to go, they had a girl to save.

**On an ending note I want to put forward that I am in all honesty a little worried about the lack of reviews, I am not putting on a review requirement for me to post up the next chapter that'd be stupid I take forever to update anyways, I really would like to see what you guys think I know your reading it, again view counter for te win. But I want to know what you'd like to see with this… so please feel free to PM me or if you feel brave be one of the first to post a review. **

**Read on and write true,**

**King of Shadowed Ones**


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